


Let's see how far down this rabbit hole really goes

by oopthereitis



Category: Darkiplier - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series), mark fischbach - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood, Blood and Injury, But I'm using actor mark anyway, Dark, Demons, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Heaven & Hell, Hell, Horror, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm coming up with my own way as to how dark was created, Magic, Manipulation, Mind Control, Mind Games, Reincarnation, Soulmates, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Thriller, and I still have no idea what's going on, cause I have watched WKM twice, like literally dark, the Devil - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oopthereitis/pseuds/oopthereitis
Summary: After watching A Date With Markiplier, you jokingly say that you'll let Dark in. He doesn't take it as a joke.A Darkiplier x reader story.
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/You, darkiplier/you
Comments: 29
Kudos: 88





	1. Aren't you tired of it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hngC2sPHWyQ
> 
> Sweet Ophelia by Zella Day

“It’s crazy that your sister is named Sally cause well-I’ll have the steak, well-done, and she’ll have the chicken caesar salad-that’s my ex-girlfriend’s name and she lived in-”

Sometimes you couldn’t believe that you were this unlucky on dates. From the guy whose first impression was playing footsie with a very unwilling you for a minute before being given a bath courtesy of your hand and both of the water glasses to the time a guy took you to the movies and thought sneaking in through the back would impress you. He was 25. This new guy would now rank among them, especially if he didn’t stop talking about-

“Sally was one of the best girlfriends I ever had, she had the looks, the brain and she was so loyal up until I went on that goddamn-”

What could be wrong with you that you attracted the lowest of the low, the scum of the scum? You were 22, just graduated with a bachelors in journalism, had a good, although not well-paying job with one of the top websites in LA writing articles that didn’t even require you to be at the office most of the time, so you could spend more time with the boyfriend you didn’t have. You didn’t look as good as a supermodel or celebrity but you at least moisturized and brushed your teeth, which was more than most of your dates.

“Hey, honey, why are you spacing out on me? I’m not boring you am I; God Sally used to get so bored with me when I would tell long stories, she used to-”

You grimaced internally at being called honey. That’s what you get for messaging a guy only 5 times on tinder before meeting him, you got a creepy guy still not over his ex-girlfriend.

“No, I wasn’t spacing out, I was really interested in your story, my eyes just do this weird thing sometimes. So when did you last see Sadie?” You know you’re wrong but you’re just so fed up right now.

He frowns, instantly conveying to you that your question hit a little harder than intended. You open your mouth to apologize when he grumbles something that instantly quells any sympathy you ever had for this guy.

“About three years ago, Jesus! You’re such a weird bitch, not even fucking listening to me when I’m the one paying for your meal!”

“Not anymore.” You slam about four twenties on the table and grab your purse, walking away as you hear him call after you halfheartedly. You hadn’t even ordered anything for yourself; instead going along with whatever he said about how he had been to the restaurant before and really, you’d probably order something awful sweetheart. Hot tears spring to your eyes, not for the awful man you’d left but at your situation.

  
You looked in your purse for money for a cab because you couldn't get Uber on your crappy flip phone but realized just at that moment that those four twenties were your emergency money, so it left you with a whole 30 buck on your debit card, definitely not enough for the 25 miles it took for your date to drive you both here. You instead called the cab company and said that that you were to be dropped off three quarters between the restaurant and your apartment, walking the rest of the way about 6 miles back home instead of driving. Thank god it was summer and only 7:00, you’d probably have at least an hour and a half of daylight in which to run over to your apartment in your uncomfortable high heels and tight dress.

You got home at 9:15, the sun just beginning to set. You closed the door and peeled off your sweaty red dress, almost crying at the stains on it. At 120 dollars, it was the most expensive thing you owned, even worse it was a gift from your unfortunately named sister Sally. You two were extremely close before what happened and you couldn’t afford the dry cleaning to fix her last gift.

You tried to stop thinking about those events by making a to-do list in your head. First on your list-a nice cold shower to wash all the disgusting sweat away. The water ran over your body as you leaned your head back into the thin pressureless stream of lukewarm water. Even though your job was very nice in terms of working from home and all that, starting journalists made a salary almost below the poverty line. You couldn’t afford much more than this crappy apartment, especially since you were determined to live alone.

Cursing your isolationist tendencies in your mind, you washed your shoulder length hair and your body quickly as the water turned colder and colder and your mind got darker and darker. You tended to focus on negative things in your mind, despite you not wanting to. Just another one of your flaws that you knew you needed to get help for, but couldn’t afford.

At that point, it was 10:30, your showering and skin care routine taking a bit longer than usual because you thought you deserved a face mask or two for the awful first date you had experienced. After all that toning and cleansing, you immediately felt a little tired. Now normally you would watch something before going to bed, but you decided not to, fearing it’d bring up all the bad memories. You closed your eyes.

…

…

…

_**Wake up.** _

…

…

…  
_**I SAID WAKE UP!!!**_

You awoke unexpectedly at 3:33 am, your chest tightening in anxiety. It was irregular although not unheard of for you to wake up in the middle of the night, but there was nothing wrong with you. You didn’t need to go to the bathroom, drink or eat. All you had was just a frightening aftertaste of a nightmare you couldn’t remember of a man’s deep voice screaming something at you. What exactly, you didn't know. Your mind was good at forgetting those types of things.But you decided to close your eyes again despite the scare you had been given. You needed your rest. But apparently your body didn’t think so despite how tired you were.

_3:40_

Still up.

_3:44_

Still fucking awake.

_3:49_

Who needs sleep anyway? Not you, you’re fine.

You grab your laptop and open up YouTube, looking for some stupid video that will somehow increase the amount of melatonin. You see a recommended video that peaks your interest titled simply: _A Date With Markiplier_. You remembered him vaguely as some kind of gaming youtuber; when you were in high school you really liked his FNAF videos.   
  
Why not try it? It looked appealing, Mark was a very handsome man, and it’s not like you had anything else to do at almost 4 am. Besides, you might not be on any dates for a while after the last shitshow.

 _Pay or Don’t Pay?_  
  
Pay. The chef looked like he was about to kill Mark and you didn’t want your ending to be horrifying. You had already paid once tonight, what’s one more? Especially since it was fake money.

 _Romance or Horror?_  
  
Oh horror definitely. Even in this fictional date, you didn’t want to see too much romance. Besides it'd definitely give you a cooler ending where you and Mark would escape together or something like that.  
  
You watched as your character and Mark entered the theater. Mark holding the popcorn made your stomach grumble and you almost went up to get yourself some from the microwave.

 _ **Until...I appeared.**_  
  
You watched transfixed as Mark disappeared and the screen started to glitch, the small stage splitting into several across the video. You could see flashes of Mark on the stage, glitching continuously. And then..darkness and a man of black and white emitting different colored lights, predominantly red and cyan.

_**“Did you miss me? I missed you very much.”** _

And with that you were hooked on him, on this version of Mark the Youtuber that was cut off from any light, made out of darkness. His deep voice was creepily familiar, but you just put it down to the fact that it was still Mark, just acting and with some crazy special effects. You felt moved by every word he said and even replayed the video, skipping of course to where he was introduced. This character intrigued you heavily in more ways than one, attracting you, yes, but also making you think about how this dark apparition came to exist and feeling empathy as he talked about being mocked and replaced.

 _Don’t Blink, Don’t Move, Relax or Freedom?_  
  
You picked Freedom, seeing that it was the only one that featured Dark Mark as he looked in the video and not 5 years younger. You saw as the table that you had sat at with Mark on your first video became grim and corrupted as Dark talked about the things he could do and how he really wanted to get to “know” you.

 _ **“You just need to let me in, It’s as simple as that.”**_  
  
Half-jokingly, half-wishingly you say “I’d let you in, Dark,” and giggle. Wow, you are so stupid and sad right now to be making flirtatious comments at a fictional YouTube persona at 4:15 in the morning. You don’t replay the video this time, now just depressed and wanting an end to this whole thing. Dark and Mark got in a fight and now you have a gun. Preferably you’d shoot neither but…

_Left or Right?_

_**Left.** _

Right...Left? That’s odd, you could have sworn you clicked the right video. Eh, it didn’t matter, this decade old laptop misunderstood some things. Besides, the ending looked good. Mark wrapped you in his arms that you definitely didn’t imagine as smelling nice like sandalwood and warm like a fireplace. And you were even getting ice cream which made you smile. You were just about to close the screen and sleep when~  


It all turned _ **Dark.**_ Like him.

 _ **“Oops, looks like you made the wrong choice.”**_  
  
He was still alluring to you as your stomach twisted in knots. He reminded you of a black hole in space swallowing everything, producing nothing, surrounding it all in horrifying blackness.

 _ **“But now we’re going to be together forever.”**_  
  
You shut the laptop screen as you saw him stop moving and just freeze. The words _Try Again?_ were still burned into your retinas even as you shut your eyes and curled into a fetal position to just rest until daylight came.

 _ **It’s a pity your eyes weren’t open to see me for the first time, when I was free from the little prison of your screen. Of course, I saw you several times before this, but that’s all I’m going to say on that.**_

The laptop screen flung itself on its own as dark smoke emerged, taking the form of a man or that which had once been a man. The black-haired man glanced on your body covered by no blankets, save from the California heat. You glowed as the moonlight from the window shone from your cheap curtains onto your less than clothed body. He smirked before going back to where he came.


	2. Don't you feel like you're running in circles?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You fall further down into the rabbit hole, watching Dark more and more as he watches you and plays with your head and computer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://youtu.be/iaCzydWesVA
> 
> Where did you sleep last night by Nirvana

**_Black_ ** , bottomless eyes stared into your soul as you sat in your bed, wrapping a sheet around your naked body. The eyes had no feeling in them at all as they looked at your frightened, trembling, shivering body. **_He_ **had sucked all of the heat out of your room, leaving it freezing cold as you tried to move your mouth to say something, anything at all. But although you could move your mouth, no sound at all emerged.

**_“Hello, Y/N”_ **

Oh no. The man should not have known your name, should not have smiled when he said it, like a shark who has found his next meal. He was well dressed in a suit but it kept changing from black to white, but with the same hellish red and cyan shining from it, like energy. He also kept multiplying, exact doubles of him jumping out and screaming or talking or joining him at looking right at you with their soulless eyes. You willed yourself to move, to run, to do anything except tremble and look at him doe-eyed like a Disney Princess. 

**_“Don’t you remember me, darling?”_ **

Oh fuck. _Fuck._ The question in and of itself sounded so simple, maybe even hot, depending on what you were into, but it felt wrong when him and 8 doubles said **_darling_ **at the exact same time, the same smirk plastered on their lips, their eyes so predatory. You couldn’t lie, it was a little hot actually, no matter what you were into. But as he moved closer and closer to you, surrounding you with his clones, you couldn’t help but finally let out a loud scream. 

That didn’t seem to please him at all, his smile morphing into a concerned frown. His pale hand reached out to stroke your arm as he leaned over your bed, eventually resorting to sitting at the edge.

**_“Don’t be afraid of me,”_ **his melodic voice sang out as he tilted his neck to meet your eyes after you had averted them. You didn’t want him to see that you liked his touch, that somehow his body had converted all that California heat into emitting from his hands and had made your goosebumps disappear as he rubbed your arm slowly. As his eyes met yours, you saw a gentler but still frightening smile, and his eyes had changed to just irises of black instead of the horrifying pools of it you had seen. You still trembled, still afraid but now aroused as he moved his face closer to yours.

**_“It’s time now.”_ **Just like the video, his face in front of you split off into several faces in front of you as you fell back, back away from the darkness into the light.

You woke up at 9 in the morning, hair tangled in a mess, sun shining brightly into your eyes. Your body shivered despite the weather as you struggled to remember your dream. Like all of your dreams, you vividly remembered a dark masculine voice, but not what he had said. But you also remembered something else: Dark’s face from the video. Head pounding, you contemplated what it meant.

You knew that dreams couldn’t ever show strangers faces, they just took a face from your memory bank and stuck it in, no matter how weird it was. And you had thought about that character a lot before you had gone to bed for the second time, replaying his videos and even ending up with him, due to your own choices. Maybe, you should see if there’s anymore of his videos and watch them right now in the daylight, to try and stop your fascination so you could sleep uninterrupted for once. Besides, today was one of your days off and you didn’t have many friends you could see, especially not so unexpectedly. You separated yourself from people usually, only venturing out for dates, occasional meetings for work and trips to the coffee place for caramel macchiatos and macarons.

As you grabbed your laptop, and opened up YouTube, you didn’t see the small grey drive on your desktop screen labeled simply **_Darkiplier_ ** . If you had, would you have deleted it? _**Well, who's to say now?**_

You looked at what YouTube recommended to you. A couple Bon Appetit videos, a Hozier music video and another Markiplier video, this one named _A Heist with Markiplier_. The thumbnail showed him dressed like a robber, reaching for a strange box with a blue gem on the top, surrounded by lasers. Guessing on the title, it was another choose your own adventure like the date one had been. You clicked on the video, watching Mark and your character zipline and flip around the museum. You had just gotten the key from the very cute dog and retrieved the item when the alarms went flashing.

_All Sneaky Like or Guns Blazing?_

You had to think about this. Which one would have the highest chance of you seeing Dark? The guns blazing would maybe be braver and require you to like duck into a dark alley or hide in an empty warehouse. But ultimately nothing was darker than a sewer. You clicked on it, hearing your heart beat in your chest, excited to see him again, frightened of his allure, aware that this was crazy and you were obsessing over not even a youtuber, but his fictional dark ego just because you had had one dream with him in it. You needed some serious therapy, you thought, as you watched the next video.

_Dark or Light?_

Dark. Of course. There wasn’t even an option at this point, you were just going to go to him, starting another one of your hyperfixations, which led to you becoming so obsessed that you turned to dating apps for interaction. And then you went on horrible dates with horrible people and then you escaped to the safe world of books, YouTube and Netflix.

_Split up or Don’t Split up?_

You weren’t a complete idiot. Don’t Split Up or you and Mark will both die regardless of how desperately he’s pleading you to leave him alone

_Split up or Don’t Split Up?_

God, Mark was getting on your fucking nerves. You were almost tempted to split up so you could see his idiotic self get eaten by a monster or fall into a booby trap, but then you’d die as well, you guessed from looking at the 30 second video lengths. Don’t fucking split up, until you’re safe. Which wasn’t likely. You heard cult members chanting as rocks and bridges broke between you and Mark. Yet, your character maneuvered around these obstacles gracefully, joining Mark always to his despair. As you both found the cult headquarters, you started to think that maybe this wasn’t it, that Dark would be here by now. But for right now, you had to choose. The cult tunnel could only fit one, but you still were so wary…

_Split up or Don’t Split up?_

Don’t **_~_ **

**_Split Up._ **

Once again your computer is confusing directions. Your next paycheck would have to go for it’s repair, maybe if you really wanted it, the next two would have to go for a new one. But you couldn’t survive on just ramen for two months so you put it out of your mind and just focus on the video. Dark has already got you into enough stress, thinking about your awful finances isn’t going to do much besides stress you out more.

You focus back on the video to find you weren’t in the cult hideout anymore. A row of paintings was placed opposite you on both walls. You didn’t recognize any of their faces, especially since their eyes had been scratched out in some kind of anger/grief. You had done the same thing after your sister and brother had...never mind. You can’t deal with that right now, you can’t deal with anything right now. You shuddered and looked back at the video. The paintings showed a king and queen based on their crowns and clothing, someone who looked like Mark without facial hair clad in black and white stripes, and a green haired figure with blood dripping down his neck. 

Along the way, your character’s phone received haunting text messages, on the general theme that you had done this before, that this was all just one loop. You deduced that you probably weren’t supposed to find this at first, you were supposed to get a nice happy ending before all of this shit happened. Your character walked forward to find a gilded large painting of Mark, dressed in vintage clothing. His voice, or what you assumed to be his voice strangely echoed in your ear.

“ _Kiss me, for all I know I could be dead tomorrow.”_ A harsh dark laugh followed those words, as the perspective turned to the left and you saw **_him_ **clad in a white suit, red light glowing behind him, his mouth cruelly moving as he spoke.

“ **_Same Snake, Different Skin.”_ **

You watched him move so seductively and languorously, as clones of him emerged, some screaming while others just repeated. He talked about how you were in a loop and how you might be tired of seeing him so many times. You knew even if this was your 50th time, that you couldn’t get tired. You could be scared, or frightened, or terrified, but you wouldn’t be tired or bored. He walked until you were both in front of a white table with a single glass of clear water. 

**_“Or maybe you just miss my pretty face.”_ **

He smiled then, horrifyingly so as you saw his black eyes, without any pupils or irises, just a horrifying reflectionless nothing looking straight at you. Hadn’t he had different eyes the last time? Or maybe that was just your sleep deprived brain messing with you. He picked up the completely clear glass of water, still smiling, as it turned darker and darker, mellowing into a black with a hint of red, reminding you of when you had seen a movie that had demon’s blood. It looked exactly like that and as he sipped on it, you thought, not for the first time but definitely the strongest, that this was a bad idea and would just give you nightmares, nevertheless you kept watching as he talked about the codes and finding the truth.

**_“But that’s all I’m going to give you.”_ **

And with that your character moved back as several reflections of Dark crowded the screen all staring at you as his final sentence echoed in your ears. You breathed deeply as you saw that you were outside the museum once again, in a simple loop, nothing more. Mark was so creative with his characters now, back when you were watching him he would just simply make scary faces at the camera. You were just shocked that he had changed so much, that’s it, nothing more

You told yourself this as you clicked out of the tab and into your Google Docs, ready to start some writing for your job, knowing you didn’t technically have to do it until Monday but needing any distraction from the mess of your life. You also pulled on a lace tank top and jean shorts, not wanting to still be naked at 9:45 in the morning. You mostly just wrote about all the dumb stuff, celebrity gossip and reviewing some beauty products once in a while. You grab the product you're reviewing, some kind of vacuum that sucks out all of your blackheads, normally sold for 50 dollars but since you were a reviewer, gifted to you for free, thankfully. You write a brief description of the product before moving into your bathroom to try it out. ****

"Now, the first step is clean my face," you say to your mirror as you turn on the sink to warm it up. You're bad about remembering directions for these kinds of things and feel like talking to yourself really helps you not forget. You feel the faucet water, still ice cold as it usually was. The hot water tanks in your apartment are notoriously tiny and take a full hour to warm up. Shared between 37 tenants, you think you've gotten a warm shower once and that was on the hottest day of the summer.

Feeling the water again after 5 minutes of waiting, you think you sense a semblance of heat and are ready to begin. You grab your cheap Target-brand cleanser and squirt some out of the bottle, mixing in a little water to lather it up in your hands. You notice that the water is getting a little darker and sigh, that's what happened when your landlord was too cheap to fix the pipes. It'd be another 6 months before your complaints were met with anything but evident disinterest. You put the cleanser on your face, scrubbing and scrubbing away at your skin to make sure it was suitable enough for the review. You looked down at the sink to rinse your face, but instead screamed in horror. You could hear your neighbors yelling at you for being so loud, but you didn't notice anything except the heinous sight before your eyes.

Black, thick liquid poured out of what had once been your faucet, now just a disintegrating hole, growing larger and larger every second as you just watched. The scream had long died in your throat as you trembled, frozen in fear. This couldn't be real. No rust or clog in your pipes could make water change to some kind of black acid that was destroying your sink. Actually, no, had destroyed your sink. Because nothing was left of it except for the black demon liquid moving towards you slowly. You saw it pulse as it moved until only 12 inches was left between your foot and it. And that's all the terror you need to get your body to move the fuck out of the way.

You slam the bathroom door and grab your two pillows from your bed to stuff underneath the crack at the bottom. You're breathing shallowly and quickly after that, knowing that that won't be enough to stop it, but it'll at least slow down. You sit on your bed, hands shaking. You keep thinking about how to get out but you can't finish any of your thoughts, like someone is clicking a tv remote every time you try to rationalize. The front door is a possibility but ** _~_** You can jump out the balcony however **~** Maybe a window. These thoughts continue, but you don't act on any of them, preferring to remain frozen and still.

With a dozen different situations in your head, you don't even pay attention to the liquid seeping out from under the door. The pillows have disappeared into the liquid of oblivion as you contemplate. You don't even wonder how in a life and death situation your mind is stuck on thinking and not running, how your body isn't moving, how your eyes closed as you convinced yourself it was of your own volition. _**He**_ wouldn't let you think that way. At least not until the liquid has surrounded you on your tiny twin bed. Instead you think about what you're going to tell your landlord when this is all destroyed. He's going to probably sue and he's going to win and you don't have any money-

You open your eyes to discover that your bed is an island in a sea of pure evil. The liquid sloshes and pulses beneath you, having devoured all of your possessions. You scooch your body to your headboard and grab its decorative metal rods to help you stand up. Every part of you trembles as you realize that there's no way out, the liquid covering every surface area. Even stuff like your nightstand was being consumed, ensuring you couldn't stand on it and gain an inch of higher ground. 

Internally, you curse yourself for this. You and your own thoughts made you stuck here, waiting to be disintegrated horrifically by some weird fucking dark acid. But as you wait for it to annihilate you, praying to any higher power that could possibly help you, you discern something. It isn't moving towards you. It isn't even moving up the bed. It's just enclosing you, making sure you can't leave. You let out a relieving sigh for a moment, thanking everything you're not going to be consumed by some kind of alien and realize something the next. You can't survive here, no water, no food, not even the ability to move more than 75 inches. You might not die right now, but you're going to die soon.

What can you do now? Do you call for help? The neighbors who yelled at you for screaming just left, you heard their door close and now you're hearing them walk past your door. If you scream for help now, they'd probably be more agreeable. But they might open the door. And you can't live with seeing them slowly die, be devoured gruesomely just because of your selfishness. 

Can you fight back? Well, you can't touch it at all or else you'll become a part of it. And you have no weapons except for your laptop, still open to your writing. Even now, you flinch at the idea of destroying it on purpose, your entire career gone with it as well. Maybe you could use that to contact somebody and tell them all about this, tell them not to ever open your door, leaving whatever's left of you to rot forever. You lean down and grab it, moving your mouse to the messages app. You already know who you want to talk to, deeply regretting not doing so sooner. 

"Jonathan, I'm sorry I haven't treated you like a brother these past three years and I know I should have done this sooner. I'm going to _ **~"**_

Your screen turned to darkness. This was your only chance to talk to him before you perished abhorrently; and you couldn't even do it. Frustrated, your finger pounded on the power button trying desperately to restart the damn thing. Hot tears clouded your vision as you tried it over and over, the monitor not even showing that the battery was low. You just saw the same inky color. Just a hour ago, you were preoccupied with watching a stupid attractive fictional character, how is it that the computer was malfunctioning this badly. Finally a burst of white light comes to your screen making you laugh in relief. The stupid thing is a decade old, it just needed longer to restart, that's all. At least that's what you think until you see _**him.**_

Still dressed in his well fitting white suit from _Heist,_ he smiles. At least it's what you think a smile from him looks like. Because when he bares his uniform white teeth while staring into your soul with his hypnotic black eyes, it doesn't feel like a smile. He opens his mouth to say only one thing, **"Jump in, Y/N."**

You don't even realize you're doing it until the black liquid fills your nostrils, drowning you, going down your mouth when you try to breathe. This feeling only lasts for a second however as you land on your back on a cold hard floor, coughing it all out as you notice the liquid is going all over a man's white shoes. The stains disappear suddenly and you turn your head to see him above you.

You scream loudly for someone, anyone as he crouches down and lifts you up in his strong arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I changed the paintings in the hallway, because I couldn't find a way to still make them work and have my own backstory still present. You'll figure out what they mean in length in a future chapter. But to shorten it out, one is Anti, one's Yancy, and one is Actor! Mark that will be getting his own name, because I don't want people getting confused between him and the "real Mark"  
>    
> Comment and Kudos pretty please! I appreciate them a lot, especially comments. Thanks for reading and see you again within the next three days.


	3. No one seems to question it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up in Dark's world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://youtu.be/TZ4gbXRHXNY
> 
> Welcome to the Devil's Playground by The Rigs

Oh thank god. You can feel you’re laying on your bed, which means everything must have been a dream. True, it was realer than most dreams, but what else could it be? Fictional alter egos of youtubers infecting your computer, black acid in your sink instead of water; those weren’t things that happened in the real world. You breathe deeply and feel your velvet covers. Wait...you don’t have velvet covers. You’re not even sure if they made them after 1960. You open your eyes.

You look and see you’re on a lush blood red bed with black curtains encompassing it, a harshly lit chandelier hanging above you, shining through the canopy. Your head pounds as you slowly realize this is all real, that you can’t wake up from this. You feel the slimy black liquid covering you and grimace, feeling so disgusting. You try to move but feel so weak with your migraine and your stomach going in circles, that in the end you just lay back down and think about how you ended up in this godforsaken place.

The last thing you remember is Dark carrying you in his arms as you struggled. He held you in somewhat of a bridal carry, although much tighter due to your constant moving and efforts to escape. You were screaming the first few seconds, “Please, please stop, STOP!!!”

He looked at you with a mild concern before waving his ivory hand. You continued to scream, thrashing about. For a few seconds, you thought he hadn’t done anything until you realized you couldn’t hear yourself. You moved your mouth, forming words like “let me go,” and “please don’t hurt me.” But no sound at all came out, your voice now gone.

You struggled even further at that point, at full panic. His grip was loosening, you were sure it could break at any moment. Then you’d run and find a way out of this hell.

**_“It’s a pity I have to do this.”_ ** He said it so casually as he once again waved his hand. Then you went limp, instantly asleep. And now you’re here laying down on an elaborate bed covered in slime and scared of getting out of it and finding **_him_ ** there, smirking.

You try once more to sit up, trying to ignore the pain. You end up clinging to the iron headboard, fingers in between one of the many skulls. You gotta hand it to Dark, at least he isn’t subtle about whatever evil fuck he is. You deliberate about whether he’s the devil or an alien, as the curtain slowly opens.

 **_“Nice to see you’ve woken up. Did you miss me?”_ ** You scream and jump at the sudden noise, clinging even tighter to the headboard and he laughs, low and infernal. He’s more casual than before, wearing a gray suit jacket with only a white shirt underneath, unbuttoned at the collar, revealing his skin. His hair is messy and his eyes are a calm black. **_“After all you’ve been through, all it takes is my appearance to terrify you. So mundane.”_ **A double of his appeared to his left, screaming as he smiles..

“You were the one who put me through them!” You scream out those words at his handsome face as it twists into a semblance of a frown. You decide to keep going on, loudly yelling, “What the fuck do you want with me so much that you kidnapped me from another dimension?” 

**_“I will forgive your little outburst right now as I can tell you are clearly in shock, but do not test me again._ ** _He_ **_made me rush and behave out of the ordinary. And I regret to inform you that you are not in another dimension. Your human imagination can get very...creative.”_ ** He continues, **_“I want simply to talk with you and have you stay here, at least as long as I can due to-”_ ** Another one of his clones appears above him and points upwards before speaking, **_“External forces.”_ **

His clone disappears leaving him staring at you and you shiver, hands hurting but still holding onto the iron for the semblance of protection. You were so cold in the black liquid that you zoned out until he snapped his fingers. His vague words about _him_ echoed in your ears, as you tried to concentrate and give an answer. His eyes were boring into you, making you nervous to lash out again at him. But you couldn’t just go along with his plan.

“What if I don’t want to talk?”

**_“It’s in your best interest to talk with me. ”_ **

“It’s in my best interest to go back to my home and live my life. It’s in your best interest to imprison me for some sick reason. ”

**_“You won’t make it a day if you go back there.”_ ** He snarls these words loudly. **_“_ ** _He_ **_will find you and I won’t be able to save you.”_ **

“Who is this guy? Is it Markiplier? What does he want to do to me?” You were about to say more but then the cold overtook you again and made you shiver uncontrollably as you chattered your teeth. His eyes opened wide and his face morphed into that of immediate concern. It was actually...nice and attractive, really attractive if you were being honest. He sat on the bed, his chest and face turned towards you. His hand inched towards you but you moved farther away. His hand moved to his thigh and he started to speak.

**_“This place was not built for a living human. I am sorry I did not clean the liquefied portal off of you sooner but...I thought if I had, you would have thought worse of me than you do now.”_ ** He turned his fingers in a slow circle counterclockwise, instantly blowing hot air into the room as you sighed in relief. Your pain in your head and stomach also went away. He pointed to the curtains across from him and they opened, shining light on his ashen skin. You could see a black door open and reveal a lit bathroom with a huge shower filled with products. The water flowed like rain **_“Go clean yourself up and afterwards we can talk. Make it quick.”_ **His face shifts to hardness once more.

You don’t need to be told twice, running to the bathroom as fast as you can without slipping and breaking your neck.

Undressing rapidly, you step into the shower and watch the dark liquid go down the drain as you scrub with a shimmery pink body wash. You wash your hair clean and thank the power of shampoo when it’s not sticky. You stay in there for another 5 minutes, just zoning out as you sit in the tub. 

The water does turn off eventually though and you reluctantly step out, smelling of rose and lavender. You notice that your dirty clothes and undergarments have vanished from the counter and grimace. What the fuck are you supposed to wear now? You at least have a black towel, which you wrap around yourself and exit.

Laying on the bed is a grecian style maxi dress. It’s white and silky with a halter neckline and a shimmery belt below the bodice. You like wearing dresses, sure, but really? This guy started showing kindness to you only 15 min ago and he thinks he can control what you wear. However, there’s nothing else to wear and you really don’t wanna see what happens when you die in hell. At least your own undergarments are clean and next to the dress. You slip all of your clothing on and do your wet hair in a braid since there’s no air dryer.

It’s time to talk with him and see if there’s some way you can get the hell out of here.

You open the other door in the house and walk. The house is truly luxurious, covered in black and red and silver. Every room gets more gothic, from large paintings of hell and skulls and the like, to a fountain of the burgundy water/blood that you saw in _Heist_ topped with a statue of Dark falling as little cherubic angels push him down, ripping off his impressive wings. The blood water drips from his eyes like tears and travels down his literally chiseled body. If he looks like that underneath his suits, there’s not enough fear in the world that could keep you away. But then, you stare in confusion. The only “person” you had known to fall from a place where angels were and lose their wings was the devil himself, Lucifer . But he couldn’t be the actual devil, right? 

It felt like everything you learned about Dark just made him harder to understand. He was protecting you from a mysterious him, but who exactly was _he_? You’d be shocked if it was Markiplier, he always seemed so nice and caring in his videos. Plus he was so busy and had a girlfriend, why’d he wanna hurt a stranger like you? Maybe Dark was making this all up. You had no enemies, no money, no power, no boyfriends or husbands and you hadn’t done anything stupid except watch Darkiplier’s videos. Why would you need “saving” via weird supernatural methods? Was he the actual devil? As your stress levels immediately rose, you decided to stop thinking about that.

You sat on the edge of the fountain, figuring that if he wanted to talk to you so bad, he could easily find you. You played with your dress, lifting it and watching it flutter down slowly. It’s creepy that he picked it out, but you do like the way it feels on your soft skin. You also dipped one finger into the blood/water, but immediately wiped it off on the stone, not knowing what weird things it might do to you. You began to hum as you kicked your feet. He said to make your shower and everything quick but he himself was late. Jerkass.

Standing up, you decided to use your voice to call him. It’s been 15 minutes of you just staring at the fountain and waiting. You don’t want to talk to him, per se, but it is the only way you can think of that might get you out of here. You adopt the nicest, cutest tone you can think of and called out, “I’m ready for us to talk. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say, Dark.” You get no answer. You turn around to the fountain after about one minute, frustrated out of your mind. Even the kidnappers stand you up.

You notice something is different with the fountain. Dark’s statue shimmers and glows red. His almost naked body now breathes and he lifts his arms gracefully, uncovering his eyes. Did he really need that dramatic entrance, you wonder. You begin to open your mouth, but stare at the liquid turning darker and darker as you feel his eyes glare at you. It all just transfixes your mind, making you silent until he speaks.

**_“Finally. I thought you’d never get ready on time.”_ ** He’s not attached to the fountain, instead simply walking on the air above, still clad in a loincloth and nothing else. You try to avert your eyes but just end up blushing looking at his real defined abs. He notices and smirks at you, and you have to fight the urge not to smile cheekily. It doesn’t matter how unbelievably handsome he is, you have to get home. **_“Ask me any questions that don’t involve you going home like an idiot and I’ll answer.”_ **Well, fuck. You’ll play along for a bit, at least.

“Where are we?”

He smiles predatorily, showing some fangs. His eyes turn dark all over. **_“I thought you’d be able to guess after you saw me falling from heaven right there, Y/N. What a pity.”_ **

You had guessed but you didn’t want to think it was true. You look him dead-on in the eyes, trying to show no fear. “We’re in hell. And let me guess, you’re the devil.”

His grin gets even wider, as all his teeth turn to needle sharp fangs. **_“Correct! But I wasn’t meant to be the devil. If_ ** _he_ **_hadn’t done what_ ** _he_ **_did, I’d be the king of the angels and you, my queen.”_ **

“What does any of that mean? How can I trust you when you’re so vague with me, Dark?”

**_“No more questions.”_ **

  
  


The room around you disappears. You’re left in total darkness, your eyes taking in nothing. You thrust your hands out hoping to feel anything, but instead just feeling air. You scream for Dark, for help, that you’re scared, that you won’t ask anything anymore. You just want to survive now, no strategies or games playing in your head. You see a red and white light to your left and you take off running full speed.

As you get closer and closer, you realize it’s Dark emitting the strange light, albeit you can’t see him clearly. At this point, you don’t care. He’s evil, vague, threatening and apparently the actual devil, but he’s still something in this horrifying emptiness.

“Dark, I’m sorry-”

**_“You said you would let me in.”_ ** His words echo in the void around you as you fall to your knees when he teleports over to you, hovering over you. His eyes are pools of darkness, his gray, glitchy skin covered in a blood red light. He wears the same loincloth as before, only now jet black. Most terrifying are his wings, or more accurately, his lack of ones. A scarce amount of gray feathers cling onto bare bones. The bones are covered in dark blood. And he keeps on staring at you from above.

  
  


Your voice trembles. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t think you were real, Dark. I’m sorry. I wanna go home, please let me go home.”

**_“You said you’d let me in. This is your home now. You belong to me. You have always been mine and_ ** _he_ **_has always taken you away and killed you. And then you come again and I have to watch you in your dreams for twenty two years, patiently. No more. Never again.”_ **He pauses for a while, floating downwards until he’s on the ground, across from you. Your hand reaches out to him, completely under his control. He takes it and you feel an electric shock running into your body. You open your mouth but find that once again you have no voice. You try to pull your hand from his but it’s too tight.

He tries to soothe you. **_“I can give you whatever you want from right here.”_ ** You’re in your apartment again as he holds your hand. You see sunlight flicker through your windows. **_“I can take you any place you’d like to go.”_ **You’re at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The wind blows your dress back as you glance down. It’s the same black void. You look up and meet his eyes. There’s no light in them whatsoever, just the same darkness of the void. You grab onto the rail, desperately trying to pull your hand out of his. But the railing is weak and instead you fall.

**_“I can especially take you to the places you don’t want to go.”_ **You hear those words, remembering them from the videos from what feels like a thousand years ago as you land in what appears to be a forest. The trees are all dead, apples on the ground rotting. You don’t hesitate and run for your life as the branches snag on your once pristine white dress. If it’s any consolation to you, your voice is back. You hear yourself screaming as you rush through the crowded landscape, trying to find an exit.

You’ve been running for 15 minutes when a branch snags on your dress once more. You pull quickly on it like you’ve been doing and continue to run when you fall flat on your face. Your arms push you up but yet something pushes you down. You feel the branch wrap around your leg and squeeze hard to your horror. It feels like it’s going to break it. You grasp at the ground, searching for anything in the dank mud to help you. As your fingers close around something with a sharp edge, the branch lets go. You hear his voice from behind you.

**_“That was mercy, compared to what_ ** _he_ **_will put you through. Come here, come to me and_ ** _**I will always protect you, will always keep you safe.** _**_”_ **You turn around and see a pleading expression on his face, his eyes regaining their whites at last. It doesn’t look like him at all. You see the semblance of good as he cries bloody tears and kneels on the ground, holding his hand, waiting instead of forcing you to take it. How can this be the same man who terrifies you? His handsome face looks you in the eyes as you tremble, so scared but hoping that he might be sane.

You crawl over to him, so weary and tired and hold out your bloody hand. He grasps it and smiles. For a second, you think that he’s changed, that he might let you go. But then he screams as his irises flood his eyes, turning them an opaque black. His teeth grow fangs once more. 

And that’s when you decide to stab him in the heart with the sharp rock, his eyes shining with betrayal. You pull it out and see with horror that the rock is clean.

_**"Oh Y/N~"** _

Oh fuck.

_**"Let's play a game."** _

You were going to die. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, Dark's acting so contradictory, almost like two different people. Weird.
> 
> The fountain I described is in Madrid, and yes, is of the literal devil falling from heaven. Although I did invent the part where he cries blood tears lol.
> 
> This was a really hard chapter to write, so it took a while longer than I would have liked. The next chapter has been way easier! See you in three days!
> 
> Comment or Kudos pretty please! I appreciate them all, especially comments. Thank you!


	4. But I thought you'd see through it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You play Dark's game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://youtu.be/bxq96e_qjj8
> 
> Run from me by Timber Timbre

You immediately turn around to try to escape, but he’s thought of that. He teleports in front of you and you slam into his chest once more. You step back and try to go in another direction, but his doubles split off and surround you in a circle of red and black. You and your dirty white dress are in the middle, still clutching the rock you stabbed Dark with.

All of his voices combined to form one deep and sinister voice. **_“Are you scared of the game, Y/N or of me?”_ **

You take in a deep gasping breath. His presence in so many forms suffocates you, makes you sink deep into the void.

You stand straight, looking at one of the doubles straight in the eye.“I’m not scared of either.” 

Instantly, they all laugh at you, making your eardrums ring with their terribleness. You had known it was a lie when you said it, but really? You thought you had put up a better front. They walk around you now, as you turn around in circles, trying to see who the real Dark is. 

Suddenly all of the doubles disappear. Dark stands in front of you in a white suit, smiling as he watches you with his alluring empty eyes. **_“If you weren’t scared of me, you would have stabbed me again already.”_ **

That was hard to deny on your part.“Who’s to say I won’t during whatever sadistic game you make me play?”

He smirks at you and draws a circle with his finger. A slashing noise comes from behind you and you turn around to see a black shimmering circle on one of the trees. He appears in front of you. **_“That portal opens to Los Angeles. RIght now,”_ ** he checks a watch that you didn’t even notice, **_“It’s midnight. If you can run from then until sunrise, not pausing for any human whim...then I will let you go and be free for the day.”_ **

“For the day?”

**_“You have to understand, Y/N , that I will never stop wanting you. I could catch you during the day, if you’d like. However, I’ve already done it with you this cycle. Every night, you will have to run from me until you tire.”_ **

You try to think of something that might make him stop and think this over. You can’t run for like 10 hours straight every single night, you’ll die . “I thought you said in the videos you didn’t like games. That games were _his_ thing.”

That question makes his eyes glow with anger. They transform, making them give off the appearance of humanity with whites and irises.

**_“I don’t think you understand anything at all, Y/N. I am giving you a GIFT, letting you escape even for a second. You are trapped, just like I am._** **_We’re already playing_** _his_ ** _games, stuck in this sadistic cycle, AND YOUR DISGUSTING MEAGER HUMAN BRAIN IS LETTING_** _HIM_ ** _WIN!! I can’t stop it. I can’t stop any of it, but I can make it as hard as possible for_** _him_ ** _to kill you and reset.”_**

He catches his breath, glitching all the while, as you grip the rock harder. He’s completely insane, yet still you hesitate to hurt him again. He seems so desperate and angry to “save you”, you almost believe there might be an ounce of goodness or emotionality in him. He’s obviously been hurt by this other man, and maybe the rest of his story about you being reincarnated is true. But as you remain still, hesitant to trust him, you see the soft side of him once again fall away like a mask, his eyes demonic and black. And you remember that the devil is the prince of liars.

**_“But let’s not dwell on your past mistakes. Instead, let’s play this and find out if you really can exceed my low expectations by surviving the first night.”_ **

“Wait!” Oh god, you’re not ready at all. You had just run at top speed from this man, and now you had to do it again for 7 hours in the middle of LA. It’d be a miracle if you weren’t mugged or arrested. One question pops into your head to delay things for at least a little bit. “What will you do if you catch me, Dark?”

He steps towards you, making you feel even more at unease as his neck tilts from one side to the other. Goosebumps form on your bare arms. You try to move back but you’re frozen to the spot. He looks up and down at you in a very appreciative manner. **_“I think I’ll teach you what I meant when I said we’d get to know each other in those little videos.”_ **He grabs your hand and kneels before kissing it. God, he confuses you. Does he like you or even love you? Or are you just like a possession that he likes having, likes manipulating, likes haunting? You don’t think you’ll ever know the answer.

All this time, he keeps holding your hand, caressing it with his thumb as he kneels. He looks up at you and your thoughts scramble inside your head, just focusing on his image. He’s so handsome like this, still shirtless and statuesque, his perfect skin glowing. His terrifying wings have long since vanished. But his face of dark stubble and black eyes makes you pause and just stare mindlessly, admiring him as he admires you. The sinful angel finally speaks to you in his melodic voice.

**_“Run.”_ **

How had you forgotten? How stupid could this man make you, that just a kiss on the hand could mesmerize you? You ran quickly to the portal, desperate to escape your own foolishness.

**_“Wait, Y/N, there’s something I have to tell you!”_ **

No, don’t wait! Go! Your head screamed at you to leave and not let him have power over you, but then fell silent. You turned your eyes towards him, despite every nerve in your body telling you no.

You should have listened. From his voidlike eyes flowed terrible black tears, the liquid moving away from his face and towards you. His teeth were fangs, and looking down revealed that his beautiful hands were now claws.

**_“I didn’t tell you the truth when I said what I would do when I caught you.”_ ** He sneers at you and laughs coldly. **_“Did you know that in hell I can make people survive without a spine, or even their own heart? Well, at least you’ll survive, my little love.”_ **

You overcome the amount of terror you’re under and punch him straight in the face, seeing him whimper and clutch his nose. You smile, knowing you’ve hurt him, at least a little. And then you run like hell through the portal, barefoot as your dirty dress flows behind you into the streets of LA. A white watch appears on your wrist as you fly past people walking.

The bright lights sooth you as you tear through the roads. Cars honk their horns at you as you run blindly, making them stop, but you don’t care. You feel only sweet relief as the air nourishes you instead of choking you like in Dark’s world, and hear only music and laughter instead of **_his_ **voice. Your arms and legs pump as you think to yourself that you can fucking do this.

_1:00 AM_

There is literally no way you can do this. Sweat drips down your back as your throat begs for water and your stomach growls for food. Why couldn’t he have given you something? Your dress sticks to your skin, making you look even more disgusting as you run in what appears to be a suburb of LA. Every moment, you want to throw yourself on the grass and just rest or throw the hell up. Probably both, if you’re being honest. You keep moving anyway.

_2:00 AM_

God, you love having a spine. Spines are amazing. They allow you to stand up, walk, or run like a crazy person in the middle of the night from the literal devil. And your heart, can’t forget about your heart. It beats to keep you living and breathing, and goes fast or slow depending on your exercise. For example, you’ve felt it pound like a constant typewriter or very fast gong for the past two hours depending on if your stress is severe or extreme. What fun!

_3:00 AM_

At this point, you’ve slowed to a slow jog. It’s barely better than walking, but it’s better than having all your muscles cramp up on you at once. You can barely see ahead of you now, the dehydration setting in. Your throat is bone dry. You’re going to die, you muse. It’s weird, in Dark’s void, all your thoughts were centered on just him. But now, you keep thinking of your family, tears dripping down your face. At least you’d see your sister again when you inevitably passed out and smacked your head on concrete. But your brother...you had to see him again. You continue on, sobbing. You still clutch the sharp rock from Dark’s world, and feel the blood run down and stain your dress.

_4:00 AM_

**_“Oh, Y/N, how pathetic you are.”_ **

You are crawling at this point, your feet too pained to even walk. Running barefoot in LA has some consequences, like how dropped kombucha bottles can embed themselves into your heels. Still, you kept moving, even when you heard his voice and saw him floating up there in the sky, in his stupid well fitting gray suit. 

“Shut the hell up, you asshole. I’m trying. This is a hallucination, anyway. I’m too dehydrated to be seeing things right, especially moving for this long.” 

**_“And you lost your brain along the way. What’s dehydrated, darling?”_ **

You should have stabbed him again in the forest. Maybe cut off his tongue for good measure. 

You grunt at him as you still keep slowly moving. “Well, humans need this thing called water in order to live, especially if they’re running constantly from a psychopath. If they don’t get it, it’s called dehydration and it can cause a lot of bad things, like fucking death. Humans also need food or they’ll die, you absolute idiot.”

His face is the picture of innocence and concern, as you lift your tired hand up to flip him the hell off. Then he looks shocked. **_“I did not know this about humans. The ones in my realm...they have much bigger concerns than food and water. And when I possessed the doppelganger, I only did it for a couple of minutes at a time. And as for me…”_ ** He beams at you with his fangs. **_“I am lucky, I only have to drink one substance. And it comes very easily from my humans.”_ **

Somehow, you feel the scrape of teeth against your neck as you move. You look back up at him, but he is still there, in the same place. You try to suppress the urge to scream and stop as you feel the fangs scratch your body all over, thankfully not going underneath your dress. All the while he smiles. **_“But I guess I can allow an indulgence for you.”_ **He waves one of his fingers in a circle.

You feel the shards of glass rip out of your heels, the wounds healing and becoming painless in seconds. A bottle of water appears in your hand and you drink it greedily almost to the bottom, as it refills again magically. A sandwich appears and you look inside, seeing it’s your favorite. You wolf it down, noticing that the nausea in your stomach is gone along with all of your pain in the rest of your body. “Thank you, Dark.”

**_“Of course. Such nice manners, Y/N. You really are a good girl.”_ ** Well, he still talked like a creepy asshole but at least he wasn’t behaving like one. **_“By the way, if you don’t move in ten seconds, I’m going to take you.”_ **This time, you paced yourself, going at a medium jog as he hovered above you.

“Why did you help me, Dark? What interest does helping me serve that you wouldn’t get if you hurt me?”

He looks almost human, in that moment. He smiles sadly at you as you pace around the sidewalk. **_“Because I am able to help you, Y/N.”_ **He disappears into the smog covered sky as you keep on moving, confused, yet filled with energy.

_5:00 AM_

You smile, looking down at the watch. Only one hour left until you’re done with the worst game of your life. So far, your body feels the same as it did whenever Dark gave you his gifts. You’re so thankful. At the state you were in, you probably wouldn’t have survived enough to make it back to hell by this time. You keep running, freaking out the yoga Karens as you pass by their glass studio, covered in dirt. Whatever. You’d like to see them go through a fourth of what you have and still look presentable.

_6:00 AM_

Yes!!! Fuck yeah!!! You did it! You beat the devil! Not without help from the man himself, but you did it! You calmed down as you assessed the situation. You didn’t know where you were, and he was going to come again the next night. You didn’t have anything on you except your filthy dress. No way to call, no money, and no safety. It didn’t matter where you went in LA. Dark would just find you and chase you. And as he grew to crave you more and more, you felt he wouldn’t be so forgiving of your human needs.

You run your fingers through your sweaty hair and regret it. You desperately need any sort of shower. But you’re in the middle of some fancy neighborhood and park. There’s no restaurants or gyms around for you to sneak into. Then you spot some green rope with a silver wheel on the side of one of the houses and know immediately what to do.

Your dress is white as snow and dripping wet when you’re finished. Your hair is clean, thanks to the half empty bottle of dog shampoo sitting nearby. Your skin glows once more, it shimmering as you walk through the sunlight. Old you would feel very ashamed. But now, you’re just thankful that you got anything. You lie on a bed of grass and eat some boysenberries in some kind of nature park. It’s the best breakfast you’ve ever had, owing to the fact you thought you’d never have breakfast again. 

Standing up, you go to walk some more and find some store that might help you or give you a phone when you knock into someone’s chest. You fall, your body hitting the ground. A hand reaches down to help you and you take it.

“Y/N?”

You look up and almost immediately run when you see who it is. Jack or is it Sean from your awful first date only two nights ago? You honestly can’t remember, it seems like an eternity ago. He seemed more American when you had talked, now it’s all Irish. Maybe he was acting or something. He wears a green scarf around his neck and a t-shirt and shorts, despite it being 80 degrees. You decide his name is Jack and put on a fake smile. At least Dark listened to you and didn't talk about his exes. Again, you mentally reprimanded yourself for complimenting the goddamn devil.

“Hi Jack. I’m sorry I didn’t think anyone would be here. I usually like to take these walks alone-” You realized the excuse was stupid as you said it.

He interrupts you, his eyes full of worry. “Y/N, I know I was an asshole to you. I don’t know what was wrong with me on that date. I don’t have any exes named Sally that cheated on me, in fact I don’t have any exes that cheated on me. I behaved abominably.”

Well that was weird. Maybe Dark messed with his thoughts to make sure he was the only one in competition for your heart. It wouldn’t be unlike him at all. Jack continues, looking more and more concerned.

“But I didn’t think it would affect you this much. You’re covered in bruises and soaking wet hanging out here in a dress at 6 in the morning. Please let me take you home in my car so I can at least cook you something that’s not those berries and make up for my awful first impression.”

He’s so sweet. He thinks you’re this way because of what he did. With the record you’re on, you could probably forgive a guy for murder before you forgave Dark. You follow Jack, still holding his hand for comfort. He looks at you with his beautiful green eyes as you smile. Or never mind, they’re blue. Honestly, what you need is some good sleep. You haven’t had any in about a day.

Jack picks you up in his arms to put you in the front seat. It feels like all of your energy from Dark has been sucked away and you hold onto his hand, even as he drives in reverse.

“So where’s your home, love?”

Honestly, you don’t know. The last time you saw your apartment was when it was covered in a layer of black portal juice that destroyed every one of your possessions. You don’t even know if LA is safe at all, considering Dark’s ability to teleport anywhere in the city. Maybe if you went somewhere else, he wouldn’t find you.

“Actually, my apartment is in San Diego.”

You knew that one of your friends from college lived there, and she had been asking to hang out with you a lot. You had declined, because you had been too busy. But now, you had all the time in the world to hang out with her, since you doubted your job would be prioritized at all after this.

“Oh lass, that’s kinda far, but alright. Are ya going ta fall asleep on me?”

You noticed your eyes were closed and opened them. “I’m sorry.” You murmured at him. He looked over at you so softly.

“It’s alright, love. Go ahead and fall asleep, I’ll wake you up when I need some more directions.”

You close your eyes and lean your head back, grateful for the kind men in the world. Almost immediately, you fall sound asleep, lost in darkness.

His eyes turn back to green. Finally. He hated having to pretend that he was some revolting human. He glances over to the road and keeps driving, making sure not to wake you, at least not until it’s time. It’s a pity you don’t see the blood drip from his green scarf. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no writers block on this one, wow. The reason for this going up kinda late was because of the new hunger games book. It's amazing, read it if you can.
> 
> Originally the kiss on the hand was going to be a full kiss, but it seemed a little too creepy even for Dark. Plus we're going to get more than just a kiss later on. ;)
> 
> Fun fact: I unintentionally made Dark make a game where you had to survive the whole night until 6 am, like a certain animatronic horror game. That's what I get for watching Unus Annus more than Markiplier these past few weeks :p Memento Mori
> 
> In this universe, Jack is not a youtuber because that's way too hard for me to write with the universe I planned. Also he's not his own character, it's just a masquerade by Anti.
> 
> Also if anyone can tell me what the Anti font is, I will be eternally grateful. EDIT: An anon told me, thank you so much. It is zalgo for anyone who needs it.
> 
> Please comment and kudos, I really appreciate it, thanks for reading and see ya in a week or less!


	5. Same snake, different skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You think you're safe but you soon discover that Dark's vague words of people wanting to harm you may have been true after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://youtu.be/WtOVP3_Y5tA
> 
> It will come back by Hozier

You wake up in the car and immediately sense something is off. Your body feels heavy and slow as you sit up straight and wipe the drool off of your chin. You hoped Jack hadn’t seen it. You wanted to look over at him but something was forcing you to keep your eyes straight ahead, focused on the grey landscape.

It hadn’t been raining when you had gotten into Jack’s SUV but now it was pouring down on the car, so loud and harsh. The water covered the windshield and all of the windows, making it impossible to see anything clearly. Again, you tried to turn to tell Jack to turn on the wipers but you couldn’t. Your neck started cramping so bad, filling you with pain. 

You yelled out, “Jack, turn on the wipers! If you keep driving like this, I’m going to get out of the car and fucking hitchhike!” You meant it with all of your heart. Above all, you hated unsafe drivers. They reminded you too much of-Oh god. Your head was turning slowly to the left on its own. You tried to stop your head with your hand but instead it started scratching your arm hard, bringing your blood to the surface in little streaks. You closed your eyes in horrible anticipation of what you were about to see.

**_“Hello again, Y/N.”_ **

Really? Really? It had only been three hours since he had last seen you and he couldn’t wait until the night to torture you again. You opened your eyes to find Dark was the one driving the car unreasonably fast yet still staring into your soul. He wore his white suit, had his ebony hair very messy, and had his eyes back to looking like they were human.

“Please leave me alone, Dark.” You fought to keep your voice from breaking but lost. Frustrated and scared tears spill from your eyes as he watches every motion you make and controls about half of them.

**_“Be careful. You’re in something dangerous, darling. Run away from the one that you trust.”_ **

“What do you mean?”

He laughed low and biting.  **_“I am not able to give you answers.”_ ** With those uplifting words, he snaps his fingers and you feel yourself being pulled backwards into the outside world. A million versions of him, all silent and ominous, envelop you. You can’t escape him.

**_“It’s time to wake up now, little girl. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”_ **

And with that, the darkness surrounded you and pushed you up, towards safety.

You open your eyes in the car. It’s a bright, sunny day with a perfect sky. Outside, you see nothing but the mansions of celebrities and the mountains of California. You look over to see Jack driving with one hand on the steering wheel, one hand turning up the volume on some song that’s in French. He may have stopped somewhere to change, he’s wearing a dark green scarf and shirt with black ripped jeans. He glances over at you and smiles.

“Top O’ the mornin to ya and how’d ya sleep, lass?” Well, you were visited by the devil. So, it went about how’d you expect. Looking down at your arm, you still see the blood dripping down it, even though it was just a dream. You hide it with your voluminous dress and hope your friend has some bandages when you get there.

You fight to keep your face straight and not look like you were terrified out of your mind. “Yeah, I slept ok. What’d you do when I was asleep, Jack?

He looks to his right and changes lanes before he talks. “I took the liberty o’ getting some food and water fer us from the old 7 and 11. And I changed my clothes, cause I was doing my exercise when ya surprised me like that.” He glances over at you again, smiling with his unnatural green eyes.

Wow. He had gotten food and water without you having to ask. He handed you a granola bar and a bottle of water. You drank and ate it as you sat in comfortable silence. He had asked you to pass him whatever weird mix of grease and fake meat the gas station called a breakfast sandwich, but after that you just stared out the window. You watched the clouds and thought to yourself about what shapes they made. They relaxed you, made you calm even as you felt the pain in your arm.

Jack sings along to the radio, pressing on the gas to get up to 60 as you enter the freeway. You don’t know exactly how to get to San Diego but you trust him. Dark’s words still hang in your mind but you pay no attention to them. He’s probably just jealous.

You smile over at Jack and his beautiful blue eyes, but notice something strange. His hand flickers from being bathed in white sunlight to being bathed in some kind of radioactive looking green light. You almost gasp as it flickers back to normal only a second later. That had to be something of Dark’s, to make you run into his arms. Your mind can be easily manipulated by him and you know that the hard way.

You look out and notice that the freeway is the exact same one Jack entered onto when you fell asleep. You even see all of the same signs advertising the same exits to places like Long Beach and Anaheim. Did he just drive in a circle? The stop for gas and food surely couldn’t have taken a full hour, as the clock would have you believe. 

“Hey, are you sure we’re going the right way? This looks like it did when I went to sleep.”

“Of course we’re going the right way, silly. As it turns out, I had to also stop and get some directions since I’m bad at this whole driving thing. Anyway, why are ya asking me, lass, if you’re sure we’re going the right way? I thought ya were the one that had the apartment there.” He looks at you questioningly.

Oh right. That had been your lie in order to get a free ride to San Diego, your friend, and hopefully safety. What do you tell him now? That you’re so stupid you don’t even know the way to your own home or the truth that the devil himself wants to abduct you and then...you don’t even want to imagine what he’d do to a girl who has stabbed him and rejected him at almost every turn. No, you can’t tell him that. A mix between would be better.

“I’m sorry, Jack.” You take a deep breath as you shudder, looking at him. “I lied to you. I have this guy who’s kinda been following me. Last night, he came to my house and attacked me.” You show him your arm and he glances at it and widens his blue eyes. “I was in that park, because I had to escape him. I have a friend who lives in San Diego, I think she’ll let me stay for a couple of days.”

“Oh god, Y/N. I’m so sorry. And to believe all this time I thought it was about me.” He lets out a sigh. “I know we’re not that close and over 50% of my time with ya was spent being an asshole, but I’m here for ya. We’re going to be there in just under an hour. I trust ya and I hope ya trust me”

Abruptly, Jack turns and looks at a red Tesla speeding past you. His hand starts flickering again and this time it stays flickering when you blink and open your eyes. Green to white to green and back to white again. It looks like it’s glitching too, an outline of his hand on the steering as his “real hand” messes with the radio again. The same pleasant french song you had heard before was now turned up to max volume, making your head pound. Dark really couldn’t give you a moment of peace, could he?

Finally, you close your eyes long enough for it all to go away. Jack is still smiling, not noticing the changes that Dark brought on his body. You look closer at him and see a stain slowly growing across his dark green scarf. You gasp. “Jack, are you ok? You look like you injured your neck.”

He giggles. “Yeah I think I did, Y/N, can you untie it and look at it?” His voice sounds higher pitched, almost giddy. It’s probably because he’s losing a lot of blood. You feel your stomach get a little nauseous at the thought of touching his bloody neck.

“Can we at least pull over?” You’re awful with blood and you don’t want yourself trembling and screaming as Jack drives. It could make him crash the car and you don’t think you can go through another one of those again.

  
  


J̵̡͇̠͙̮̮͈̤́̔͋͊̉̂͋͠u̶͈͔̲̪̙̤̎̈́̾̅̚̚s̵͚̰̙̪͍̹̹͙̭͋́̀̆͆̿̈́͜͜͜t̸̢͕̬͍̮̤͋͑̈́̊͋͘͝ͅ ̶̬̓̒d̸̗̭͕̱̜̊̓̀̀͂͝ǫ̶̧̳̳̱̠̼̦̰͈̬̽̆̐̐͒͛̉̎̎͊̈́͘͠ ̸͕̗̯̩̓̃̿͂̑̑̌͋̇̆̚i̵̯̪̥͇̱̞̾͊̊̅̏̍̿̄̓̾̒̎͜ṫ̴̗̬͔̞̠̖̭͑̂̉̀͂̐͌ ̵͖͉͉̍͛̌́͒͋̕͠Ÿ̸̧̨̨̛̛̳̭̦̞̫͚͇͚̥́͐͑̅̈́́͜/̵̧̛͙̙͖̤͈̠̻͖͍̭̳̃̊̅̓͒̉̈̄͠ͅN̶̦̮͍̬̎̀ͅ

Your hands move and start to untie the knot of the scarf, fingers getting wetter and wetter. You don’t want to do this, yet you do it anyway. The scarf is completely soaked in blood and you wonder how he could not notice this wound until now. It’s almost as if-

He slit his own throat. He slit it in such a way that you could see his neon green bones peeking out. He slit it in such a way that his dark, demonic blood runs out, staining your hands. When you go to wipe it on your dress, it stains that too yet your hands remain dirty with his blood. And worse of all, he slit it in such a way so that when he laughs at your hysteria, laughs at your panic, you can see his vocal cords vibrate from the inside. You are so shocked, all you can do is scream.

“Jack? What did you do?”

“NO! My name is Anti. And Jackieboy did me a favor.” He sneers. The Jack you knew is completely gone. His skin glows bright green. He glitches in and out, staring at you and the road at the same time. His hand grabs yours and you cry out. His hand is so cold like a corpse. You desperately try to grab at the door handle trying to escape him. 

D̵͍̒o̶̳͐n̶͚̕'̵͔̒ṫ̵͖ ̸̈͜ḏ̵̋ơ̶͎ ̷̣̇t̷̼͛ȟ̸̪a̷̧͐t̵̢͋,̷̡̿ ̶͈͋p̷̣͘û̷̦p̵̧̀p̵̪͋e̸̖̓t̸̝̓.̶̡̇

Your hands stop clawing at freedom, not of your own volition, as he continues laughing as his blood spills onto you. He keeps teleporting so close to your face and then teleporting back and giggling about your scared reaction. “If you jump out that door, Y/N, your skin will peel off because I’m going so fast. I normally wouldn’t care but he told me I had to bring you in alive and whole.” He presses his foot down on the gas just to prove his point and you look at the dash in horror and see you’re going 90 miles per hour. Oh god. If you had succeeded at your plan you’d be dead or in a lot of pain.

“Anti, who is he? Is it Dark?” You’re so scared of him, yet you have to ask. Instead of responding, he pulls out a silver knife stained with rust. You know it’s not rust but you’re going to throw up if you think that that knife has been used on other people. He waves it around at you, glitching and flickering in and out, purely psychotic.

N̶͕͆ơ̸͜ ̵̤̍m̷͙̔o̶̘̓ŕ̶̻ẽ̸͙ ̵͙͆q̸̎͜ũ̸͉ḛ̶̏s̴̗͘t̷͔̐į̶́o̸̤͛n̵̩̒s̴̮̆.̶̱͋

He grabs your arm and proceeds to carve as you feel the car going faster and faster, spinning out of control. You hear horns honking and just break down. This was it. You had such a bad taste in guys that you picked literal psychopaths. You would have rather died in Dark’s game than in this. He only threatened you with injury. Even the scratches on your right arm, which thankfully wasn’t being stabbed, had healed as soon as you had shown them to Jack.

Smiling, he pulled his knife from your poor, poor arm. He had carved a giant A on it as you screamed in pure agony. He snarled at you, still holding the knife dripping with your blood, this time pointed at his own gruesome throat.

I̷͓͝ ̷͉͝r̷͙̕e̵͍͊m̵̲̆é̵̞m̵̗̐b̴̙͌e̶͔̐ŕ̷͓ ̸̬́y̵͕̎ö̸̡ų̸̈́,̸̲̋ ̴͔̽p̷̘̽u̵̳̕p̵̦͌p̷͍͂e̷̳͆t̴̬̾.̵͓̑ ̶̭̄Ŷ̷͔o̴̱͛u̴̠̍ ̷̰̈́ẅ̸̝́ḙ̶́r̴͔̿e̶̼͂ ̶̰̃ẗ̴̞h̸͓̀e̸̜̚ ̸̪̕o̵͚̔n̵͍͠e̴͇͝ ̶͑͜t̶̙̔h̸͈̋a̴̳͘t̵̟̊ ̴͍̑m̷̥̆ã̸̬d̸̄ͅĕ̶ͅ ̸̤͛m̸̥͂ę̶̾ ̸͉̑d̶̡̈ŏ̷̺ ̸̩̈́t̶̘͛h̵͎͌í̵͈s̴̱̄.̸̾ͅ

“I don’t remember you at all. And I’d never want anyone to kill or hurt themselves.” Just like Dark, he apparently remembered you from some past life. Dark remembered you as being his lover while Anti remembered you as an awful person. Why were you being hurt over these things in the past? What on earth had you done that your future reincarnations were being punished for resembling you?

Just as you were wondering about all of this, Anti turned his full attention to driving. Not because he wanted to be safe. But because he wanted to terrorize you some more. The needle on the speedometer almost breaks as he floors it, laughing all the way. “You deserve this, Y/N. You deserve whatever the fuck happens.” He spins the car in circles as you cry, begging him to stop.

“Why are you doing this, Anti? Why? Please, PLEASE, stop!”

B̶̢͘e̷̯͠ć̷̝a̷̺͆ȕ̸̗s̷͉̈́ë̴̡́ ̵̝͘I̷̊ͅ ̷͔̀c̷̳̿å̶̬n̷̪̽.̷͋ͅ

As far as you can see, the only good thing about Anti is that sometimes, Jack gets control. He stares at you with his eyes in between driving. Just like Dark, they are demonic, filled with oblivion. The same horrifying blood tears fall from his eyes causing you to scream further. You don’t know what else to do. You can’t escape. And if you fought back, you doubt he’d take it as nicely as Dark did. Anti is literally worse than the devil.

Anti sees the same red Tesla that you had seen before and charges for it. You cry and plead. There’s nothing you can do. You’ve already escaped death once before, what makes you think you can do it again. You should have listened to Dark and ran when you had the chance.

You feel the car crumple as it slams into the other car and let out a final scream. Your eyes remain closed, yet you open them slowly. It’s a miracle. You’re not hurt at all, only scarred by the injuries of Anti. You lay down shivering in shock on the car seat as you feel yourself being lifted by arms clad in maroon sleeves.

You hear a voice so familiar but you struggle to place it. It almost sounds like Dark in a way. Oh. It’s Mark as in Markiplier, the one you thought had created Dark. His voice sounds a bit higher than usual.

_ “Hi, Y/N. Aren’t you glad I saved you?” _

How did he know your name? The only thing you had ever done to “interact” with him was to subscribe your junior year of high school. And why was he so arrogant? Those questions only flitted around in your brain for a moment before gratitude replaced it. You let out a sigh and relaxed your body. You didn’t think it was strange at all that a complete stranger was holding you and not even calling the cops when you had been in a serious accident.

You peek out from his chest and see that Jack’s car actually missed the Tesla, instead slamming into a concrete barrier. It looks completely destroyed on Anti’s side, yet your seat looks pristine. You feel Anti’s glare and smile. You hope he can never use his awful knife again, the sick beast.

_ “Y/N, are you hurt?” _

“No...I just feel kinda dizzy and tired.”

You felt him set you down in the passenger seat of his car, reaching around you to buckle you in. You take your first look at his face. Yep. It’s Mark all right with his jet black hair and tan skin. Thank god. You don’t know if you could deal with another demon or entity. He’s wearing a suit like Dark would, only now it’s burgundy.

_ “Well, ok. Try not to go to sleep, you could have a concussion Y/N. Plus I think you’ve had enough sleep already.”  _ What did he mean by that? Probably nothing. Your brain is all types of damaged after everything, you most likely imagined that he knew about all of your bad dreams.  _ “Anyway, I think I have to have a little chat with your friend who drove you almost to your death. Stare straight ahead to get your brain back to normal.”  _ You follow his instructions exactly, staring at the road ahead.  _ “Good. I’ll only be about five minutes.” _

He walks behind the car to find the glitchy demon crouching down. Glass is stuck in his hair, his skin, and most horrifyingly in his throat injury. He leans down and pulls a huge piece out of his wound, causing Anti to scream in pain.

Anti whispers, W̵h̸a̶t̸ ̸t̷h̶e̵ ̴f̸u̷c̶k̵ ̸w̴a̸s̷ ̵t̸h̷a̶t̸ ̸f̴o̵r. He’s always been such a vengeful creature, and the man is grateful that he’s in his debt.

“ _ That was for almost injuring the girl. You know that she’s mine.”  _ The man growls those words, making Anti shudder. Good. He should know his place in all of this.

I̶ ̴w̶o̶n̴'̷t̴ ̸d̶o̵ ̴i̷t̶ ̶a̶g̶a̵i̵n̸.̷ ̷A̷n̷y̴w̴a̴y̸,̷ ̴w̸h̸a̵t̷ ̷d̴o̴e̶s̷ ̵i̶t̴ ̸m̴a̶t̴t̴e̷r̵?̴ ̷A̴t̸ ̶l̸e̷a̷s̸t̶ ̴I̶'̶d̴ ̸g̵i̶v̸e̷ ̴t̶h̶e̴ ̷p̴o̴o̶r̸ ̵t̸h̷i̴n̵g̸ ̷a̷ ̸q̸u̴i̷c̴k̷ ̸d̵e̵a̷t̶h̴ ̵u̷n̸l̵i̴k̷e̸ ̵y̶o̴u̷.̶ ̷

_ “It matters because she betrayed me, Anti. If you keep talking like this, I don’t think you’ll ever escape my service.”  _ He never would get his freedom despite whatever the man says, but it is a good threat to keep him motivated.

Anti flinches. D̶o̷ ̵I̷ ̴a̷t̸ ̸l̴e̴a̶s̴t̷ ̸g̷e̵t̵ ̶m̸y̴ ̵p̶a̷y̶m̸e̶n̸t̷?

_ “I think so, yes.”  _ He does still need to give him some hope. And he did break you mentally, which helped quite a bit. He waves his fingers and Anti’s wound heals by a millimeter. Amazing, how his powers could reverse decapitation. He leaves after that, stepping over the broken demon’s body and getting into his car. Your eyes are still focused ahead, and he snaps his fingers to make you look at him. Wow, you were as beautiful as you were only eons ago.

  
_ “I’m taking you back to my house. Are you ok with that, Y/N?”  _ He only had to use a little of his influence to get you to nod yes. He started the car and drove off, leaving a hurt demon and the sound of sirens behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You really have the worst luck in all of this.
> 
> Anti is such a fun character to write. Thanks to the anon who told me the font, I got to make him super creepy. I liked writing Dark's dream too, he's definitely my favorite to write for. Unfortunately, that's the last we're going to see of him for 2 or 3 chapters. :(
> 
> The song Jack is listening to is Le temps de l'amour by Francoise Hardy. It's from Moonrise Kingdom, one of my favorite movies and perfectly juxtaposes the scary scenes that happen before and after.
> 
> I just watched the Who Killed Markiplier Livestream and I finally understand it!! All I needed was Mark talking for three hours in depth and I get it. But still don't understand Damien at all, and I've watched the livestream. However, it's really pretty and well acted. And it's the only characterization we get of Actor Mark.


	6. His yarns, his webs, his lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You discover who you really are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0srKjwRJwc
> 
> Pliocene by Cosmo Sheldrake

You awoke in a warm room; the bright sun hurting your eyes. You blink slowly noticing the room. It’s pure white, from the bed to the walls. Even the door and canopy over the bed are white. Yet your white dress has been changed to a tight black one, although you don’t know when you did that. The last thing that you remember is being in Mark’s car staring at the grey road ahead as he drove. And didn’t he say that you shouldn’t sleep because you might have had a concussion?

Your head is certainly feeling like it. It pounds as you sit up on the comfy bed and pull aside the curtains. You appreciate that Mark took you to his house, but you need to be heading out. You don’t want to put Mark in danger because of Dark doing something by himself or with Anti. The green glitchy man never said he worked with Dark, but who else would want to hurt you?

Exploring the room, you find a clock that tells you that it’s tomorrow instead of the day you thought it was. How did you forget an entire day? And why hadn’t Dark come for you? He barely had enough sympathy to give you food let alone rest. Maybe it was because Mark was here.

You walked toward the door, reaching out your hand to open it before pulling down your dress. Since you’ve been walking around, it keeps riding up your legs and almost exposing you. It feels itchy and wrong on you somehow, even though at some point you must have picked it out. Mark has always seemed so nice, you don’t think he could have done something when you were asleep. You walk through the door, not turning around to watch the door shimmer and disappear.

The house was filled with sunlight and beauty. You couldn’t count the times you had stopped to admire some painting or design feature only to find next to it something even more resplendent. It was all gilded with gold and silver making you gasp each time. You couldn’t help it. You knew that Mark was rich of course, but this rich? You couldn’t even find your own room. 

You descended the grand marble staircase. Grand portraits of Mark hung across from you, making you almost laugh. However, when you opened your mouth you instead started coughing as you grabbed the railing. You really needed some water.

At relatively the same time, you heard water flowing from outside. You thought for a second about going further into the house to look for him, but some feeling pulled you outside. Once again pulling down your awful dress, you stepped outside and felt the sunlight illuminate you. 

The gardens were magnificent. Green trees provided shade as you walked barefoot on the soft grass trails. Gorgeous fountains and waterfalls were present in every direction, even sometimes ending in natural clear pools. You bent over one for a while, watching silvery fish swim as you waved your hand in the cool, refreshing water. And then you wandered through the amazing flowers.

Every color and every type of flower you could think of was around you making you smile. This felt like paradise. Bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies flew around you as you ran through the garden feeling like a child. You couldn’t help but laugh joyously seeing that this all went on for miles. You picked a white rose, noticing that it had no thorns and began to weave it into your hair. 

You kept wandering through the garden, occasionally stopping to grab some berries or fruit from the trees and bushes. The flavor from each of the common fruits tasted so fresh, perfect, and ripe. The lemons were sweet as sugar and the apples were the kind of red you heard about in fairytales.

Walking further on, you spotted a hedge maze of some sort. The oak door to the labyrinth was covered by ivy. You brushed it aside and strided into the mass of hedges, immediately being cast into a landscape of shade. The beautiful trees that had hung above you now blocked almost every inch of light from seeping into the labyrinth. You trekked along, something inside of you telling you, pushing you that Mark was here.

There were no dead ends, no paths diverging. You simply walked in a circle alone and felt the circle grow smaller and smaller. As you got farther away from the entrance, more light trickled into the maze. The hedges turned to moss and ivy covered stone and you began to walk faster, ready to discover whatever hidden oasis lay at the center.

An entrance appeared shining golden light onto your body. With no hesitation in you, you immediately walked confidently into it. As you began to make out the beautiful features of the secret paradise, you gasped.

A huge waterfall fell into a pool of pure, clean, and cerulean water. A swan swam on it and multicolored fish splashed around it. Pure white doves and bluebirds flew in the air. The bright sun made everything glisten and shimmer. The grass was the kind of green that you could only see in the movies. A picnic table on it held every food, every delicacy that you could ever imagine, ever want along with tall glasses of refreshing water, lemonade, and wine. But what you were most focused on was the shirtless muscular man basking in the sun as his eyes were closed.

You stepped closer and closer to Mark, admiring him all the while. His tan bearded face was so handsome as his black hair was slicked back by the water. His abs shined in the sunlight and his swimming shorts clung to his lower body in a way that made you avert your eyes. You sat some feet away from him, dangling your feet in the water. You waited for him to wake up.

After about 5 minutes, you hear him move and groan and you turn around. His brown eyes meet yours and a smile grows on your lips as a blush forms on your cheeks. He laughs and moves closer to you.

_“So you’ve been exploring, Y/N? How do you like my place?”_ He gestures around to the lovely area.

“I love it. It’s so beautiful here, it feels like I never want to leave.”

_“Then don’t leave here. I have plenty of room for you to stay.”_

You scoff at the statement. You have a job, you have your friends, and you still have to get in contact with your brother. No matter how much your mind is pleading to stay with him, how much you hear pleading voices in your ear, you have to go. It feels like everything inside you is ripping you apart as you say,

_“Mark...I think I have to...go home.”_ As soon as you say it, you regret it. A frown spreads across your face and tears suddenly appear out of your eyes. What is happening to you?

He smiles at you in the midst of all this, making you feel so much better. _“Of course. But I have to tell you something first. I have to apologize.”_ You look at him expectantly as he clears his throat and leans back, showing off his glorious body once more. 

_“I’m not Mark. And I’m not the dark one either.”_

You scoot farther away from the man you had assumed was Mark. You didn’t buy him not being Dark for a single second. “Then, who are you if you’re not either one of them? Is Mark okay?”

_“I know you know that_ **_he_ ** _is the devil. And the gamer you admire so much means nothing at all”_ He growls those words at the sky before looking at you and softening his eyes. _“Think of me as the opposite of_ **_him_ ** _.”_

“God?” What. The. Fuck. Couldn’t you meet a normal guy ever?

He bursts out laughing with his head thrown back in the air. You spot something offwhite and red go flying from his mouth, but as soon as you think about it you can’t remember it. _“No, Y/N, I’m not God. In fact, I don’t even think there is a God, just some stupid human science that created this universe. Rather, I’m a king. The king. King of the angels, heaven and about half of earth. I hope you can guess who rules the other half.”_

Your eyes widen. “That was what Dark said him and me could have been. King and queen of the angels.”

_“Oh, and if_ **_he_ ** _hadn’t killed our parents, he would have been. But you? The queen? You were just a toy to_ **_him_ ** _, nothing more. Even still after_ **_he_ ** _has killed you nine hundred and ninety nine times, you have no idea of who he truly is.”_

You give him a dirty look. “Does anyone ever wanna explain this weird backstory that I have with you and Dark and Anti? Or are you just gonna be vague about it always. You know what Dark said in one of my dreams? He said to run away from the one I trust. And I trusted you. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t run right now.” Immediately after saying that your stomach begins to cramp in pain and you stifle a scream as your head pulsates. Mark/whoever rubs his hand on your back, lessening the pain significantly. You look at him and see concern all over his face, even one tear falling from his left eye.

_“You’ve...been dreaming about him.”_

“Yeah. That was the first one I remembered all the way though. Like with his face, voice and conversation. Is it bad?”

_“Y/N, you are in grievous danger. What_ **_he_ ** _does is_ **_he_ ** _manipulates people. That’s who_ **_he_ ** _is at heart: a social manipulator._ **_He’s_ ** _right that you should run from who you trust. Because_ **_he_ ** _has made you trust_ **_him_ ** _in some sort of sick way. All_ **_he_ ** _wants is to take advantage of you._ **_He_ ** _will lure you in with his exterior charm, but inside_ **_he_ ** _is a deep ball of burning rage._ **_He_ ** _hates me for stealing his “rightful place” and you for not doing what you were told over three thousand years ago.”_

“I never said I trusted him, I only meant-”

_“I know, I know._ **_He_ ** _hurt you in all sorts of interesting ways. But you’d be surprised at how you still fall in love with_ **_him_ ** _. You want to know what’s going on, my Y/N? I can tell you it all, if you’d let me.”_

“Of course, Mark!” You’ve never been more urgent. You feel your trust in him growing once more as you move closer to him. 

He grins. _“First off, my name is Marcus._ **_His_ ** _name is Damien. We are brothers. I also have another brother named Antonius. He is the eldest, I am the middle and Damien is the youngest.”_

“Wow.” You felt stupid for not assuming that before. And embarrassed about being surprised in front of Marcus.

He raises his eyebrows. _“What else did you think we were? Let me continue my story, Y/N. It’s worth it.”_

You look down at the lake, frown growing on your face. “I don’t know...I’m sorry.”

His hand once again reaches out towards you and caresses your shoulder. _“Don’t apologize. Do you want me to keep talking? If I do, you can’t interrupt me again.”_

For some reason, you were comforted by these words and nodded your head.

_“About three thousand years ago when this all began, my brothers and I lived in purgatory together. We were all close and happy, but divided by one thing. You see, our parents were the current rulers of the world. They ruled all things good and evil and had done so for millions of years. But they were tired of this and wanted to choose a successor.”_ He swirls his hand in the clear water.

_“The competition was between all three of us. However, Antonius dropped out saying that he had a bad feeling about all of this and that we would all lose. We all laughed at the time. But now, I wish I had taken his advice. From that day on, Damien hated me so intensely it was like we were strangers not family.”_

_“You came into the picture when we were in our third year of competing for the kingship. My mother came up with the idea of seeing how I’d rule with someone from a different walk of life. After all, she was a demon ruling with our angelic father. So, she kidnapped you from the human world along with your closest friend and a prince, Jack, who you now know as Anti. ”_ He looks at you with sadness in his eyes, so clearly distraught about what comes next in his tale.

_“You were a 16 year old princess from what you might call the ancient world, and you certainly looked it and you still do. When I first saw you, I almost fell on my knees because of your beauty. I looked at you as a future wife and began to go with you almost everywhere, waiting so patiently. I even was nice to Jack. At first, you were so afraid and confused and Jack would snap out and lash at me. Over time however, you began to love me and Jack became one of my closest friends. And that’s when_ **_he_ ** _stole you.”_

_“Before, Damien only saw you as some silly thing that he didn’t need. Damien thought he_ _could rule on his own and not listen to our parents stupid challenges. But when Damien saw that I had you, he wanted you immediately to be his wife instead. He even wanted Jack as his friend as well.”_

_“He began hanging around us, using his charm to drive you and Jack close to him. I thought this was normal at the time, he was my brother. He probably just wanted to be friends with his future sister in law and her closest friend. Meanwhile, my parents were making me study more and more, leaving you alone without anyone supernatural to defend you from Damien. One day, I was walking throughout the gardens and I saw you three close together from a far distance. I yelled at you to come here until I walked closer and realized that you and Damien were kissing passionately while Jack was busy climbing a tree, shouting at you and Damien jokingly. Damien opened his eyes as you were kissing him and saw me. He just pulled away and laughed. Jack saw me and started giggling like mad. But the worst part is when you turned around and joined in.”_

You look in his eyes and see tears falling perfectly from his eyes, just like in a movie. He wraps his arm around you and you lean into him. Normally, you would pull away from this stranger who has already deceived you once. However, he makes you so comfortable that you don’t even think of objections for a single second. You feel so sad, so piteous for him and his story.

“Are you okay? It’s ok if you can’t continue, Marcus, we can do it another time when you’re better.”

He speaks in a raspy choked voice. _“No...no. I need to do this. I need to tell you this so that you don’t fall over to Damien again and think that I’m some evil monster that’s trying to kill you or something.”_

Your eyes widen in some inert realization, and your mouth fights against your mind to ask a question. “How do you know that he talks like that about you?” Again, pain erupts in your body. It feels like hellfire on the inside. And then Marcus’s touch makes it all better.

_“I know because I’ve heard him talk like that before, Y/N. Are you ok? Your whole body is burning. Maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t ask any more questions.”_ You can’t help laughing at that, despite the sinister threatening tone. After about 10 seconds, he joins in too, peals of laughter rumbling his bare chest on your back.. He pauses. _“Alright, I’ll continue.”_

_“I cried and cried after that, for at least a whole month. Meanwhile, you, Damien, and Jack had started spending time with Antonius. I didn’t know at the time for what however. But every day I’d hear you four laughing and talking quietly and then once Antonius and Jack had gone kissing and love talk. You called him your love and he called you his darling. And of course, you would call each other king and queen in anticipation of what you should receive. That broke me out of my depression and I started to study even more, to talk with my parents. In dismay, even their behavior towards me proved that I might not have been the favorite as I once was. Even your mortal pity for me wouldn’t even give me a kiss right before the selection day. I was in despair.”_

_“Still, when the announcement came that they had chosen someone to rule, I walked confidently into the throne room. Only to find a bloodbath. Antonius was hacking up our parents with an ax, piece by piece, somehow sobbing all the way. Damien stood smirking in the center of the room, not even pretending to care. You and Jack, like the helpless humans you were kept crying and crying as the murder was happening right in front of your eyes. I pushed Antonius off of my parents to the ground to cry some more, but they were long gone at this point. Only chunks of unidentifiable flesh remained at this point. You screamed at Damien about why wasn’t he reacting and he laughed at you coldly, just like he did to me. He told you he didn’t ever love you and you broke down even more.”_

_“A black crown appeared on his head as a white one appeared on mine. He grew angry, saying that a grey crown should have appeared on his head and I should have been made mortal. I said that since he had refused you as his queen, then the powers above had granted it to be that we should be corulers. I moved my hand, ready to use my powers and strike him down to the hell where he belonged.”_

_“But first, he did something so outrageous it shocked me into a state of silence and stillness. He tore his own heart out. It didn’t kill him, of course. The only way you can kill a creature like him or me is by crushing their heart. But it did make him unable to love anyone. Oh, he could need or want someone, even want to save them and keep them. But he couldn’t love, couldn’t feel passion, couldn’t truly want to die for someone like you would for a friend, family, or your lover.”_

_“He started with Jack first. Your poor friend was clinging to you as you cried, trying to help you in any way possible. He was even calming down Antonius with his soft words of encouragement and love, despite his crimes. Damien didn’t listen to any of it and grabbed a sword, swinging it crazily. I yelled at Jack to move but he looked in the wrong direction. His head rolled onto my feet.”_

_“Then his sword pointed at your innocent body. You screamed and put your hands up, sobbing helplessly. He smiled and then drove it all the way into your weak human heart. I came alive out of my trance and began to yell for you. I still so deeply loved you and it hurt me to watch you in pain and now dead.”_

_“I ran to your body, clinging to it desperately as I watched Damien. After tearing his heart out, his body had changed. His skin was a deathly gray, his eyes were as black as midnight and he emitted copies of himself that were the color of the blood he had spilt._ **_He_ ** _hovered over Jack’s body, pouring_ **_his_ ** _dark magic into him. I was too tired to care.”_

_“At least, until Jack got up, his head in his hands. Dark set his head on his neck and then stitched the wound a little with_ **_his_ ** _powers, enough so that it wouldn’t fall off._ **_He_ ** _held Jack’s bloody heart in his hands._ **_His_ ** _own was forgotten on the floor. You see, when someone has your heart in their hands, they can control you in any way they want just by thinking it and touching it at the same time. Dark made Anti crawl over to me and you and use his new magic to make you the same. Between my cries, I pushed him away. But he had given you enough energy so that you were half alive. You were awake, you just couldn’t move in any way. There was no way I could reverse it. So I decided to instead go forward and make your soul constantly alive. That way you would never truly die. Your soul would escape his torments by being reborn over and over again.”_

_“_ **_He_ ** _screamed as your body disappeared into dust. Dark pointed his magic at me but I had already done it. As he was banished,_ **_he_ ** _grabbed_ **_his_ ** _heart and Anti’s before_ **_he_ ** _fell down from the skies. Anti met the same sad fate as I watched his skin and hair turn neon green. Antonius screamed that he hadn't done it, that he hadn't wanted to, but he still was too sad and anxious for my liking so I sent him off to Earth to regain some confidence among the mortals. I still check up on him every now and then.”_

_“And you? You have been constantly reborn almost a thousand times. As princesses, queens, peasants, nuns, even prostitutes. You have been every type of woman in the mortal world. Sometimes, there are even some duplicates of you, running around. But always by the age of 22, you’re either freshly dead or have been for quite some time. It goes one of two ways: either you choose and trust Dark and_ **_he_ ** _relives_ **_his_ ** _first kill with one who looks just like her or you choose me and you wander off or do something stupid and_ **_he_ ** _kills you. There is no reality where you survive.”_

Your mouth hangs open. “Oh, oh wow.” You just turned 22 two weeks ago. That would be your last birthday you would ever have. Tears form in your eyes. Despite all the kindness Dark has shown you, in the end he’s just a psychopathic monster willing to kill you hundreds of times for something that happened four thousand years ago. You lean into Marcus’s touch but instead feel hands push you into the water.

You look angrily at Marcus as he laughs. _“I’m sorry, honey. I just wanted to make you happy despite my depressing story.”_ You stare at him furious for a few more seconds until you see the hilarity in it and giggle, splashing the perfect water at his face. You try to swim closer to him but your restrictive dress is making it impossible.

_“Take it off, Y/N. I’m the only one here to judge for now. As long as you stay here and follow my rules, you can do anything you want.”_

You roll the dress down your thighs, throwing it onto the emerald grass. You’re left in just your undergarments clinging to your wet body as you swim in pure beauty. Fish dart around you and a dolphin even emerges from the small lake. You swim alongside it as you hear it chirp in happiness. Meanwhile, Marcus watches you from the shore. You feel like you could do this for hours.

And you do. And then Marcus pulls you out and feeds you that perfect meal that somehow stayed the exact right temperature as a fuzzy towel is wrapped around you. Your bra and panties lay drying in the sun in the oasis and you smile, despite everything. As long as you keep being smart, keep staying next to Marcus, you can live here forever without danger.

Afterwards you walk back to the huge house, still wrapped in your towel. Marcus holds your hand as you stroll through the peaceful gardens. You notice something off and point it out to him. “That part of the house seems really deteriorated.”

_“That part is the west wing. It’s where Dark used to live. It’s haunted with his bad energy, and even here in heaven I cannot remove it. Promise me that you will never go there.”_

“I promise.” Normally you would have fought or demanded to explore. But your mind had become a lot more calm and accepting when you were around Marcus. You felt tired and sleepy and was so glad to see that the sun was setting.

He led you to a different bedroom in the house, this one covered in purple and maroon and decorated like something at Versailles. _“Get me with this bell,”_ he pointed. _“Whatever you need I’ll be right there. Make sure you stay in bed all night.”_

You looked down demurely as he left your room winking. “Ok.” You weren’t stupid. You knew what he was implying. In the back of your mind, a twisted thought came to the front. Maybe you even liked it. The only problem was that you were still a virgin. While you were contemplating this, the light suddenly turned off. You felt your way to the bed and curled up and slept naked on the lush sheets.

_12:00 A.M_

You woke up to a room dimly lit. Without thinking, you walked up and grabbed and put on a white robe with fur decorating the cuffs and hem. You opened the door and walked as if in a trance, lights turning on and off directing you to a grey door, slightly ajar.

You felt someone watching you and turned around and around, your body feeling incredibly dizzy. But you found no one there. You even felt someone playing with your mind, pulling you backwards and forwards. A haunting familiar laugh played in your ear.

Still, you walked up to the grey door confused. Should you or should you not? Your curiosity was killing you as it never had before. You thought you could follow the rules. You thought you could be safe. But your urges and mind drove you, like they always have, like they always will.

You gently open the door.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter took so long to make. Bad case of writers block combined with all of the shit happening in my country. Black lives fucking matter, and if you don't agree with that then you can stop reading this. Try to help in any way you can. https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
> 
> I loved writing all of those details and little hints at the beginning. The house is inspired by Who Killed Markiplier but this time Actor Mark(Marcus) controls all of it, even the people inside of it.
> 
> Also keep in mind, Marcus is heavily unreliable as a narrator, so that's not the true backstory. 
> 
> Antonius, wonder how that name shortens and develops out to something you might be more familiar with. Say with a Y, lol.
> 
> Also what on earth could be behind that door? Please comment and kudos and I'll see you next week.


	7. Trapped in his games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out what's behind that door...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJdTRF5d94k
> 
> In the woods somewhere by Hozier

All you see is darkness in the room when you open the door. You hesitate to go inside, seemingly feeling sudden fear. You don’t want to be lost in the pitch-black, screaming for Marcus. If he’d even come to help you. You aren’t sure but if you could pick anywhere to be the entrance to the forbidden west wing, a huge ominous grey door would be the obvious winner.

Looking around the entrance to the world of blackness, you see a torch hanging from the wall. You could have sworn it hadn’t been there before, yet you grabbed the wooden base. You held it tightly in front of you and cursing yourself, stepped into the dark room.

The torchlight revealed nothing interesting at first. Ivy covered stone was to your left and right, while moss provided a carpet for your bare feet. A long hallway was in front of you, still possessing the same darkness that persuades you to walk further in, even set down your torch. Your eyes are completely adjusted and you don’t even notice as the flame spreads in the first room.

You walk further on, peering into adjacent rooms. This all reminded you of Dark, which wasn’t surprising considering he had lived here. It was gothic, abandoned and horrifying. Even now, you were disgusted by the fact that in the past and present, that this awful man had seduced you if only for a moment. Why had you even come here? This was the ultimate horror movie cliche, a innocent young girl in a dark house exploring as something stalked her.

You turned around to go back, to be safe. But the only thing you saw was a wall of flame spreading quickly in your direction. In one of your most logicless moments, you immediately ran inside the next room and closed the door. Almost immediately you realized your mistake and tried to open the door, screaming and yelling for help. But the knob was boiling hot, shocking you so strongly that you fell. 

You landed on solid stone, crying out as your arm started to bleed. You keep calling out for Marcus, but no one comes. The warm liquid runs down your body as you look around the room that now imprisons you. 

It looks like a closet. Only it holds only suits and tuxedos. They’re all either gold or maroon which confuses you. Dark only likes black, red and grey. However, you always see him with a little touch of maroon, perhaps all he can bear of his past life. There’s no windows, no other doors. 

A black gas creeps underneath the door and you start screaming even louder. You know that it’s smoke and if you keep breathing it in, you’ll die. Not like you were safe before, you just hadn’t fully realized how much danger you were in. You fall to your knees, taking fast, shallow breaths like an idiot as you hold onto a wine red tuxedo.

You eventually stop hyperventilating. The smoke is moving incredibly slow, almost like in some movie to help the main character escape her horrifying death and the reality of psychics. You still grip onto the suit incredibly hard, until you notice it’s getting heavier.

It feels like something is growing inside of it, filling it. You release it slowly, just quick enough to avoid grabbing onto the newly formed gray hand. Gray? Oh no.

His attractive head forms out of the neck hole. Disturbingly, he’s still limp and hanging solely from the rack. Your mouth widens in shock and then anger. You forgot how mad you were at Dark or Damien. He took everything from you, all for some sadistic fun and power. You begin to punch at his face and chest, yet his muscular arms quickly grab and pin your wrists.

His eyes open, once again horrifying pits of ebony evil. They drip corrupted tears as you struggle against Damien. No use. You can’t move an inch away. He laughs evilly before spinning you around so that your back is pressed against his body. His lips move against your ear.

**_“It’s not fair, is it?”_ **

You open your mouth to answer before the whole room bursts into flames and you’re obliterated into nothingness.

You wake up on the canopy bed, heart racing. Your nude body feels so cold and your lungs feel tired as you hyperventilate once more. You move underneath the covers, clinging to the silk for comfort. That was the most horrifying dream you’ve had yet and it was in Marcus’s own home! How could Dark get in here and control you like this?

You’re interrupted from your thoughts as Marcus walks through the open door. You’re confused. Wasn’t it closed last time? He speaks and everything is wiped from your mind except for his voice.

_ “Hi, Y/N. Did you sleep well?” _

You shrug. “Yeah, I guess. I had this weird nightmare though about Dark.” You explain more about your awful dream. When you’re finished, his face changes into a knowing smile for a second before morphing into pure concern. 

_ “Oh god, that sounds awful. You must have done something bad, Y/N, otherwise  _ **_he_ ** _ wouldn’t have attacked you like this.”  _ Your face scrunches in confusion. You didn’t think you had broken any rules yet. In fact, you didn’t know that there were any rules to break besides the obvious. Now that you knew all about Dark’s evils, you wouldn’t ever do anything he tells you again. But Marcus was probably right. He looks at you and sighs.

_ “I shouldn’t have said that, right? Of course. You’ve done nothing wrong. You just need more protection from Damien, that’s all. I’ll move you closer to my room.”  _ You feel completely reassured at this. He’s so nice to you when he really shouldn’t be. He said it wasn’t your fault but the thought is stuck in your head and makes you immediately nod and say yes to his offer. He winks.

_ “If you ever want to put on clothes, honey, there’s some right on the chair. Or don’t. I’ll still be happy.”  _ Well, it’s not like he hadn’t seen you naked before. And you were kinda the recreation of his soulmate, right? Your mind was becoming more and more accepting of his advances by the hour. You weren’t surprised if you just ended up in his bed by the end of the day. And you didn’t know if you’d mind.

You laughed, looking over at the chair. Great again, another tight black dress. It hung on the chair, showing off the ruching on the breast and ass area. Gold and maroon trim decorated it. 

Throwing off the covers in front of Marcus, you stood up. He looks you up and down, clearly over exaggerating. Your thoughts of a little shame easily twist into thoughts of confidence and attraction. You pull on your dress while staring at him appreciatively. Somehow, he’s even more handsome than before when he was shirtless. He wears a maroon silk button down that’s only half buttoned up and black pants.

_ “Wanna get out of here? You haven’t even seen half of what I own.”  _ He holds out his arm to escort you like you’re in a movie from the 1950s.

You smile and walk over to take his arm. “I’m up for anything with you.” Oh fuck, that didn’t sound good.

He smirks.  _ “Me too, sweetheart.”  _ And you proceed to walk on together, talking all the way.

He shows you so many wonderful things. You can’t believe he always had all of this. From a zoo to a separate castle, a massive pool to a hidden library, and even a whole amusement park, it’s hard to believe this place wasn’t just made for you out of thin air. You suggest this to Marcus and he just laughs harder than he ever has before.

Marcus was the most perfect man you had ever met, in your opinion. He always was right about everything, he helped you when you needed help (which was often according to him), and he was very appreciative of your body. Even when you thought you didn’t like it, he soon did another thing or another thought popped into your weak head that made everything better.

By the end of the day, you were starving and exhausted. Marcus fed you by hand as you sat on his lap for dinner. Afterwards, you watched fireworks from a bridge over a river. As they lit up the beautiful sky, Marcus pulled you into a kiss. You couldn’t help but to respond likewise.

You walked back and slept in the room next to Marcus’s. Honestly, if you focused solely on yourself you were happy. You didn’t want to have sex with him just yet. You weren’t saving yourself for marriage or anything, but you had known Marcus for two days.

Again, you took off your dress and slept naked with no covers.

_ 12:30 am _

Well, fuck. You woke up again to your weird dream, put on your white robe, and walked in the hallway. You tried to stop it, but your body couldn’t control itself anymore. It replayed your dream as you screamed inside of yourself. Soon, you had met Damien once more. As he said his line, you tensed for the sudden fire. But instead, Marcus appeared like a hero in the door and pulled you from Dark’s arms. Marcus fought Dark as they both screamed.

**_“She’s mine, brother. Don’t even fucking bother! You’re so weak, I can’t believe you’re actually my family.”_ ** It didn’t sound like Dark at all, but he was also in the middle of a fight so you didn’t know.

_ “Damien, why are you so evil? She is so innocent and weak, it’s not even fun killing her. You’re pathetic.”  _ You’d like a more spirited defense of your right to live but that’s ok. Marcus is being heroic, hurting and beating Dark until he disappears. 

Marcus pulls you into a kiss. As you close your eyes and melt into him for a second kiss, you see something horrifying. A skull with glowing red eyes looks straight into your soul and speaks in Damien’s deep, seductive and dangerous voice.

**_“Leave before you end up dead, Y/N.”_ **

You scream and open your eyes once more to daylight streaming in across your body. You breathe heavily, still in shock over the fright. Marcus comes to your door once more and you have pretty much the same conversation about your clothes and the day ahead until you get to your dream last night.

“My dream was sorta nice. I mean you were there to protect me...but I got jumpscared by some skeleton of Dark’s when I closed my eyes. He said something too, like I have to leave before I end up dead.” He looks so puzzled as you talk.

_ “You’re completely safe here, Y/N. My brother wants to manipulate you into leaving so he can murder you once again. I like the other parts of your dream though. I’ll always save you and be your hero, I promise.”  _ You smile. He’s perfect through and through. You run into his arms clad in a maroon dress and you feel him caress your back. For a second, you almost feel his hand scratch your back in some sort of anger, but then your thought distorts and you think nothing of it. Until you see him caress your face with a blood splattered nail. You feel things inside your mind trying to contort and manipulate you into forgetting it. But you can’t deny your own eyes. You push the manipulators away and resolve to be a little more critical of Marcus from now on. He’s a good guy, but everyone has their flaws.

You spend the whole day with Marcus like you did yesterday. He’s a lot more flirty with you today, however. He grabs your ass and breasts almost constantly. You blush and smile. You feel a little uncomfortable but it’s ok. He’s so nice and handsome that you like the interest, you just hate his actions. Within minutes, your hate changes to a mild dislike. At least, you still don’t like it.

Marcus talks to you about everything and you enjoy the conversation. He’s very knowledgeable and has visited almost every time period in history. However, whenever you ask a question about your past lives or Damien a strange pain forms in your stomach and head that makes you cry out loud. You thought it was a coincidence that it happened twice, but the third time you knew something was wrong. It couldn’t have been Marcus...right? 

You grew more suspicious of him as the day passed. Finally, when you are back at the house you decide to explore with him a little bit. The house is so large, you don’t think you could ever see enough. 

As you walk around, you see something very familiar. A grey huge door, surrounded by torches, straight from your dreams. And as usual, you feel a pull towards it. You untangle yourself from Marcus’s arms and walk towards the door. You have to see whether or not your dream is real, whether or not you should be scared of it. You reach your hand out to open the door but feel Marcus pull your arm back very hard.

“Ooow! What the hell, Marcus!” 

He glares at you and bares his teeth.  _ “That’s the west wing, honey. The only place where you are forbidden to go. I’m just trying to fucking save you and yet you blow up on me like an emotional bitch.”  _ Oh fuck no. There’s no way you can perceive that as nice, no way something can twist that. His nails dig into your arm harder.

“Let go of my arm, you asshole! I want to go home right now! I don’t know why I let you kiss me, I don’t know why I let you see me naked, and I don’t know why my mind keeps making me think that this is all ok! Please, I need to leave. Please!” His expression remains unchanging throughout your pleas and he still won’t let go of you. You struggle so hard, but it’s like fighting against stone.

_ “Relax.”  _ You keep struggling for a minute or more, but then his voice soothes you into stillness.  _ “You know why you did all of those things, because you wanted to. You want me. And that’s ok. In fact, you want me so much you never want to leave.”  _ You fight your mind for sanity for at least five minutes as he says all of those awful, untrue...true things. You want Marcus, he’s so handsome and charismatic. You want him more than anything, anything in this world. And he wants you too, because right afterwards he kisses you so hard and passionately that you gasp for breath afterwards.

Marcus walks you to your bedroom. Once again, he leaves you with some flirty comments and invitations. He even pauses for a moment, waiting for you to join him and go up to his bed. Yet something in you is still rejecting him. He opens his mouth to speak, but smiles and mutters something like  _ “It’s not even worth it.” _

It could have been something else. He could have said something nicer. But it still makes you feel like shit enough to keep you up at night long after he left. You lay there in your uncomfortable dress, staring at the night sky outside your window. Eventually you get up and open the closet, thanking God that there’s some leggings and a white lacy tank top in there.

You put it on and walk out of the room. For a second, you consider going to Marcus’s room and telling him about how he made you feel. You scoff and keep walking. He probably wouldn’t admit to saying it. 

You continue to walk, slowly realizing where you’re going. It’s the door from your dreams. You try to deny your urges, but like every time nothing works. Soon, you reach the door and open it. This time, it’s well lit inside so you don’t even stop to grab a torch. You see the same quarters from before and linger until you see the closet.

It has the same sinister mahogany door, yet it’s not dusty like before. Someone has been visiting this place regularly; to the point where the hinges are almost worn down. The stone floor is smooth, like a person has walked on it for several thousand years. None of this stops you from gently opening the door.

What you see in front of you makes you fall to your knees in shock. You cry out loud and close your eyes. When you open them, you still find that the horror in front of your eyes is still there. The closet is bigger than in your dream and it has a dark wood floor and detailed gothic stone walls. And instead of suits, what hangs are corpses.

Your corpse, to be precise. A thousand of them, killed in vastly different ways. Stabbings, shooting, even one is burnt and charred beyond all recognition. Some of them have green faces, maybe due to poison. Some of them have blue faces and finger marks on their necks. And some of them you can’t even describe. They were all your past lives. 

There are other things in the room too. Your dead body in a grecian dress lays on a stone slab in the middle of the room. On either side is a human heart that still beats. You get off the ground and go towards the heart on the right. Once again, something pulls you towards it.

You reach out and touch it. As soon as you do, you’re thrown into a different world. You look out into a black void and your skin is an awful gray. Your body splits off into red versions of yourself and it feels like agony. A voice echoes in your head.

**_“Hello, Marcus...Oh, wait. Hello, Y/N. I’m so very sorry. Under his control, just like I’m under yours right now, I couldn’t tell you exactly who_ ** _ he _ **_is.”_ **

“I control you? Is Marcus him?”

**_“Of course you do. You’re touching my heart, remember? You can tell me what to say, what expression to have, even how to move. Of course I’m very strong, so strong that I was able to break through and show my true self. As to your second question, I won’t even dignify that with a reply. He’s been manipulating you from the start, Y/N. He makes me the villain and himself the hero.”_ **

“But why? According to his story, you’re already the villain. Don’t forget, I distrust you immensely.”

**_“His story is false. Once I come to you, I’ll explain it all to you. You’re right not to trust me. After all, I’m heartless. But I’m right on this. Haven’t you noticed his strange behavior?”_ ** You hear Marcus’s voice screaming from far away in the real world and your/Dark’s body starts trembling.  **_“Y/N?”_ **

“Please help me, Damien. Please help me!” Marcus’s voice gets closer and closer. “I DON”T WANT TO DIE!” You rip your hands from Dark’s heart and turn around to find Marcus at the door, face red and livid. He runs towards you and grabs your throat, strangling you.

_ “TELL ME THAT WASN’T YOU, Y/N. BECAUSE IF IT WAS, YOU’RE AN IDIOT AS WELL AS AN ADULTERESS!”  _ He lets go of you and you cough for a while before speaking in a raspy voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I haven’t cheated on anyone. I haven’t done anything. Please don’t kill me!” He calms down significantly, taking in deep breaths as he looks at you as you cry.

_ “That’s right. You don’t know anything. You don’t know that you ran off and broke my heart with my own brother. You don’t know that for the past three thousand years I have killed every single one of your reincarnations because that is what you deserve, you little cheating human whore. Forget. Forget all of this and spread your legs for me so for once I get to own you.”  _ He stares at you and smiles as you feign relaxment, not feeling his mind control anymore. Your legs spread underneath your leggings. As he begins to grope your body, concentrated solely on his task, your hand strikes and you punch him in the face.

You keep hurting him, scratching and slapping. After a while, he goes limp and you move off of him. But that was your one mistake. He snaps his fingers and suddenly you’re in a prison cell. 

He stands up, brushing off blood. His wounds heal quicker than Damien’s and soon he’s handsome once more. You bang on the steel bars and he throws his head back in laughter.

_ “You really are an idiot. If mind control doesn’t work on you, who’s to say that other powers of mine won’t? You stupid bitch. Soon, you’ll be begging for the chance to prove you’re sorry with your body.” _

You spit in his face. “You’re fucking sick!” 

He still keeps smiling as he wipes the spit off of him.  _ “No, I’m not. I’m just trying to rescue you. Damien has always brainwashed you into thinking I’m some sort of serial killer. But you always do something wrong, Y/N. You’re never innocent. This time is different, however. This time you stayed nice and pure for me. With a little bit of coercive punishment and some isolation, your whole attitude will change. And then I won’t have to kill you. Or maybe I will. The thing is you’ve made it so interesting for me, Y/N. Normally, I just outright kill you on your sweet 16th. But with your family tragedy and how easy you were to manipulate, you have changed me.”  _ He strokes your face through the bars.  _ “I love you, Y/N, just like I loved her. You’ll change too in a bit, I can sense it!” _

He snaps his fingers and leaves. You cry out for someone, anyone to help you. You give up eventually though until you hear something on your left, from the bed that you hadn’t realized contained a person.

“Youse’s okay? Youse sound really sad. Is there anything Yancy can do for youses?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait! Wow this was a long chapter!
> 
> I'm sorry I did the whole dream thing, I just wanted to explore a bit more of the heavenly side of this world.
> 
> Also, I don't know the difference between suits and tuxedos, so I used the term interchangeably. 
> 
> God, Marcus is such a dickhead. If I ever met him, I'd also punch him in the face. All the moments where you find attraction are entirely caused by his own manipulation.
> 
> At first, I wanted there to be no speaking to Dark and you would figure it out on your own. But I miss writing him so I added in a conversation just because! He will be present in the next chapter!
> 
> Speaking about new characters, Yancy!!! I can't wait. He's a major player in this in more ways than one.
> 
> Happy Birthday Mark btw! I hope he has a good day or had lol.
> 
> Please leave a comment and some kudos!! See you later and I appreciate you all.


	8. Perpetually plunging down the rabbit hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet a new friend...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is Something in the Way by Nirvana.
> 
> Or of course, I don't wanna break free.

You turn around and scream almost instantly, backing up against the wall. That man, “Yancy” apparently, has the same face of Marcus and Damien framed by 1950’s hair. That handsome deadly face had gotten you in enough trouble. His expression expresses even more concern and he stands up, holding his hand out in some kind of sick peace offering.

“What in the bee’s knees is happening to ya? It looks like youse saw some sort of paranormal apparition when I, a perfectly normal prisoner slash criminal, was just trying to comfort you.” 

He has the audacity to walk forward towards you, still holding his palm up. There’s no way. You’ve already been deceived by two other men with that face, not to mention Anti. Your heart sinks as you realize that Anti was probably working for Marcus. That sadistic bastard used your trauma and pain of car crashes just so you can love him. It’s a new low and you begin to cry even harder, sinking to the floor. 

Yancy kneels down and touches your hand to try to comfort you. Immediately you slap his hand away and sob even more. He forlornly goes back and sits on the bed. When you glance at him through your mist, you see his head has fallen into his hands.

Eventually, the tears and snot slow down enough to where you look a lot calmer. You wipe your face on the prison blanket in lieu of tissues and slowly stand up. You’re scared but determined. “Get out of here!” He doesn’t even move an inch. “NOW!”

He lifts his head and looks at you. His eyes are tired and empty. Then in an instant he changes. He becomes jovial, beaming at you as you tremble half from fear and the other half from cold. Your white tank top is covered in dirt and blood as your long hair flows in messy knots. His smile is met by your snarl and a charge. He’s thrown off the bed as you pin him down on the floor. One hand is on his neck, the other on his two wrists. You straddle his body in between your legs.

“Are you Dark or are you Marcus, asshole? Or are you another fucking brother?”

“Youse know that ain’t a ladylike manner of speaking.”

“Yeah and youse’s know it isn't 1955, Cheap Elvis. Answer the question.” You tighten the grip on his neck. Inside, you recoil with horror. You’ve never treated anyone as mean as this. Depending on who it is though, you’re not even sure if it is mean. Marcus already choked you for merely talking to Dark. And Dark...you try to ignore the feelings and thoughts about his hand on your neck.

But “Yancy” responds to it well. He doesn’t even sound short of breath. “I guess then I’m just another fucking supernatural identical brother to youse. Didn’t ya hear the story? I’ll tell you the story if youse needs it” Your hand moves off his neck in shock. Yet he remains still beneath you. 

“You’re Antonius, aren’t you? You murdered your parents under Dark’s control.” His eyes return to that depressed nothingness. Oh. You just remembered who had told you that very story. You move off of him apologetically. Antonius sits back on the bed and you sit below him on the dirty floor.

“You thinking about my other brother? And what’s youse name since I told you my rightful one?” He flexes his right hand so you can see the Mark written on it in tattoo ink. The left with Dark tattooed on it stays still. “And don’t call me Antonius. I like Yancy. Much more...uh...simples that way.” He smiles again and you have to fight to not smile back.

“Alright, Yancy. My name is Y/N. Now, how do I know you’re still not under his control?”

“If he was, he wouldn’t uh make me be so nice to ya. But he’s still watching youse, don’t forget that. He’s watched ya nonstop for all your lives, and I don’t think he’s going to be all hunky dory relaxed just cause youse get to be his prisoner.” Oh shit. There go your plans to break out of here with a rock hammer. 

“I wouldn’t try to escape either if I were ya. Prison, it’s not so bad. I still got my buddies with me when we get any uh free like yard time. They don’t serve us all that fancy gourmet but the food’s not too shabby. Oh and also,  _ if you try to escape even once, your new friend will be pulling your organs out of your body one by one as you watch, screaming and screaming. See you in your dreams, Y/N.”  _ Yancy’s hand is on his throat the entire time Marcus speaks and he has . You hug your knees into your chest and start mildly hyperventilating. Well, this sucks. For once, you were empowered and treated like an equal and then it’s back to panic attack damsel in distressing. 

“Can’t control my mind cause of the whole immortal thing and not having my heart but uh can control my vocal cords.” He laughs shakily, still coughing partly. Suddenly he stops. Then you feel a hand on your shoulder. “I’m very sorry for youse. It’s not fair he kills each one of ya just cause youse all look like each other. He’ll have to kill me before I ever lay an unkind hand on youse’s.”

You look up and meet his kind smile. It’s so genuine you almost burst into a second set of tears. You let go of your knees and shudder thinking about that horrific voice. Yancy’s still stroking your shoulder and being calm despite your hysterics. Eventually you calm down and he grabs your hand and helps you stand up and find a seat on a small chair.

“Do youse need something at all? Ya clothes are a little dicey with all the dirt and blood and holes but they don’t stink so much so it’s ok if you keep em. I can also get you some dinner, maybe a little wine and afterwards you can take a shower maybe? It’s not that you look bad or smell bad it’s just...all right I can’t lie. It’s worse than pigshit on a hot ohio night.”

“No offense taken. Yeah I’d like all of those things please.” You press your hands against the cool wall, feeling faint and dizzy. Your head keeps spinning like a top about all of the things which have happened in just the last two weeks. But through it all, you keep focusing on one thing. Yancy’s hand is wrapped around yours comfortingly and his sad reassuring chocolate eyes look into yours. You insecurely stutter, “Why are you being so nice to me?” 

“Because I like youse. I’ve liked all of youses. Plus, you don’t come from the most nice of circumstances. My good brother is only good cause of he scammed his way to king of heaven. And the bad brother ain’t even have a heart to love you with cause it’s the other brothers. Now I’se ain’t that smart but you can’t have been treated a bit well by them.”

You smile sarcastically. “You’re a genius, Yancy.” He blushes and beams. It looks like he’s never been told this before. It’s the least you can do after you literally were strangling him just a few minutes before. But still, you shouldn’t trust him. At any moment, the cute comforting mobster persona could shift and instead you’d be sharing rooms with a cold blooded killer.

After that, Yancy grabs you some toiletries (suspically the ones you use in your shower back home) and you head to the shower. It’s communal and the wall next to you only goes up to your thighs. But Yancy snaps his fingers and a curtain appears. You look in awe.

He winks. “I still got a little magic in me.” You thank him again and step into the shower to change and wash. Afterwards, Yancy hands you a giant fluffy towel as you hide yourself with the curtain. You step out with clean and conditioned hair and body. And new things as well. There are claw marks on your back from Marcus as well as bruises on your neck. You look in the giant mirror and shiver. Even clean, you still look a mess.

Yancy gives you one of his white shirts to wear as well as some fitted striped pants. You tie up the shirt so it looks remotely fashionable and cuff the pants. Meanwhile, Yancy’s reaction is akin to if you’d stripped down to your nakedness and begged him for sex. You can’t help laughing and in a short while, he can’t help either.

You get some steak and mashed potatoes for dinner in your cell. The strange thing about it is that no guard delivered it. Instead, it simply materialized in your room along with a bottle of Dom Peligrino and two flutes of champagne. You ask Yancy about it and he simply deflects the question. You don’t really want him to answer it. There’s really only one person who could’ve sent it. The other…

Wait! The other brother. Damien, Dark, Devil, Lucifer, and the king of hell! You asked him for something back there in the crypt with his heart! You asked him for his help. And he sounded distraught, not at all heartless. If he just resists enough, you’ll have your savior in the morning. Yancy seems cool for now but Marcus...he’ll either rape, kill or marry you. Maybe in that exact order. You don’t dare hope for Dark’s help but a girl can dream.

You’ve eaten almost your entire dinner and drank two glasses of champagne before you start to feel a little sick. You get up from the table to go to your bed before you realize there’s only one. Marcus didn’t even give you courtesy of having bunks. Yancy’s been there for about 15 minutes, flipping through a book. It’s a wellworn copy of  _ Pride and Prejudice _ and you smile softly as you get into the bed with him.

It’s a creaky twin so even though you try not to touch him, your head automatically rolls onto his chest along with your hands. He moves his arms so that he’s reading around your head and you close down your eyes. You can feel every breath in Yancy’s body and all of his heartbeats. It feels like safety. You relax after 5 minutes. If he wanted to kill you now, he would’ve already.

The light turns off after 15 minutes and Yancy dogears his book and places it to the side. He moves toward you on his side and takes you in his arms. You know if you complained, he would instantly stop. But it feels so good. All of it feels very protective, like he’s your big brother. And you drift off, feeling better in a cell than you ever did in that cursed mansion.

_ … _

_ … _

_ … _

**_“Hello Y/N.”_ **

Even in prison this man will find you. He’s dressed unusually messy this night. A gray suit jacket contains an unbuttoned white shirt that shows the slightest hint of body hair. His hair is disheveled. He moves his arm and you can see pure ruby cuff links. What should you say to him? You don’t even know the name he likes to be called.

**_“Call me Dark, Damien is dead to me. It’s best if you don’t speak tonight, Y/N. My brother’s eyes are fixed upon you like a hawk and he’ll notice even the slightest movement from your precious lips. That discovery wouldn’t be good for any of us. Just think what you want to say.”_ **

Are you going to help me? Can I even trust you? You’re literally the devil and Marcus can control you always.

**_“Of course, I’ll help you Y/N. I’ll help you with any problem you have.”_ ** He winks then returns back to his normal iciness.  **_“First, you have to give me what I want. You’re the only one who knows where my heart is. That’s the only way I can be in complete control. Even now, when_ ** _ he _ **_is too busy to play with my mind, I can still feel his compulsion on me. And you can trust me. I have a slight interest not to see you dead. If I was Marcus, that interest would not exist. Give me my heart and that slight interest will grow.”_ **

What if I don’t want to give you complete control of your powers?”

He looks at you and frowns deeply. His red clones surround you and they repeat what he says next in a horrifying chant.  **_“Now’s not the time for fear. Plus, I’m the least of your problems. Marcus has killed everyone with your pretty face. He uses a different method with each one and your method...I wouldn’t use it on my worst sinners. I’m your only way out of this prison, Y/N and it’s time you start acting like it. Otherwise, you’ll always be helpless and lost. There are no more pretty lies.”_ **

You step back in horror. He’s good compared to Marcus but not that good. Your body trembles yet as he smiles sinisterly, you desire more.

He laughs.  **_“I don’t have a fucking heart. I’m the literal devil. I’ll never be completely good again. Now where is it so I can be a little angel once more. Or choose to trust a psycho and die horribly.”_ ** His hands come up in mock prayer and his false smile spreads.

You think quickly in fear. It’s in a door all the way to the left of his mansion, down an endless hallway. Two doors down to your right is the crypt and your heart is all the way in the back.

**_“Good choice. Now you just need to wait with Antonius until I come and get you. Afterwards, who knows? Marcus needs to learn some manners certainly.”_ **

Will I be able to go home?

**_“I suppose so.”_ **

That’s not the answer you wanted, but at least he didn’t tell you no.

**_“Goodbye, Y/N. Remember what I said and I’ll get you out of here. Make sure to be nice to my brother, he deserves it. Try not to anger Marcus. And be good for me.”_ ** He reaches up and strokes your hair with his gray hands. He looks at you seductively with his black eyes. You’ve never been more afraid or turned on. You’ve always liked bad boys who have soft spots for the protagonist. Even if that soft spot was little more than an inch. He leans in more and more and you’re pulled into a trance. You hear whispers in your ear from him but you can only concentrate on his face.

His lips descend on you and you feel pure peace and passion. He grips your body and pulls it close to him. His tongue darts in and out of your mouth and you try to copy his motion as he strokes your back. He does this for a minute of heaven before pulling away and leaving you needy for more.

**_“That was a proper goodbye, my love. Now, go back to your mindless mortal rest.”_ ** He smiles sardonically, and once again his handsome image multiplies and gets smaller and smaller as ringing plays in your ears.

You fall back into sleep and dream for hours of a handsome angel holding a knife covered in blood. He’s hidden his eyes with a blindfold so you don’t know what expression he makes as he runs towards you, his tainted wings outspread. In the back of your mind however, you know that it's Marcus and that his dead eyes are lighting up like a christmas tree.

You wake up to a cold bed and a harsh shrill bell. You cover your ears with your hands and groan loudly. You don’t know the time, but still it feels super early. Yancy’s already up and tying his shoes. Pushing yourself out of bed, you wait by Yancy’s side. You don’t even have any shoes yet you still stand with him on the cold rough floor. The cell door automatically opens as it did the first time and you walk through together, holding hands.

The cold concrete hallway forked into two pathways. The one on the left was where you went down for your shower. The right was where Yancy was pulling you towards now. You walked forward, wondering what weird secret lay there.

But it’s just a cafeteria. A 1950s one at that with midcentury designs and cute little booths. You sit down in one that also contains a man covered in tattoos up to his bald forehead and a girl who looks to be about 4’11, her hair in a loose braid. Yancy introduces them to you as Pickles and Tiny and tells you that you’re one of the special prisoners. This doesn’t affect them at all and they’re surprisingly friendly to you, despite their initial scowls.

You hang out with your new buddies for about a week as you wait for Dark to come for you. Despite their warmness, you can’t help but pine for rescue. The prison had no windows, not even a glimpse of sunlight. It was cold all of the time and even Yancy’s many “borrowed” jackets didn’t make it a bit warmer. And the schedule. No matter how much you slept, you almost always had to be carried to breakfast by Yancy who would call you curse words all the way as you sleepily laughed. You secretly thought Marcus was making the bell earlier and earlier, but didn’t say it. You never spoke of Marcus anymore.

You had talked about him at night to Yancy on the second day. “Which parts of Marcus’s stories are true, Yance?” You had given him the nickname at an odd job today, where he had ran at you with a broom handle like a joust and you were reminded of your useless minor in medieval history.

_ “All of them, honey. Would I really lie to you? If I was a liar, I wouldn’t say that I wanted to bash your head in with a hammer as soon as I heard you ask that. But I did tell you, Y/N. Aren’t I trustworthy?” _

“Get the fuck out of Yancy’s head!”

_ “Don’t be feisty with me, I like it too much. And I’m not in his head, I’m manipulating his vocal cords so he doesn’t sound like he’s straight out of the Bronx mafia and you and I can chat.”  _ His hands claw at his throat till they draw some blood. The expression on Yancy’s face is of pure horror.

“We have nothing to talk about. As soon as I get out of here, I’m gonna rip your heart out.”

_ “The first thing you did when you got in my prison was to cry, honey. I’ll never be scared of you. I just wanted to suggest that you might not want to discuss your or my brother’s past in depth. For one, I’m always watching and I simply can’t control myself when such awful and untrue things are said about me. I might just go a bit too far and...then you’re left without your limbs and head.” _

“Then do it, pussy.” Oh fuck. You messed up. Yancy’s jaw clenches and his eyes go wild. You back up and grab the lamp on the small desk.

_ “It’s a good thing you’re attractive. I think another two months and much more work will really soften you up for me though. Oh, and less food. But to serve as a lasting reminder…”  _ Yancy grabs his left wrist against his will, his hand trembling along the way. His voice is back now.

“Please! Youse don’t want to do this! Brother! I’ll never beg for youse to let me out again. Please!” Snap. Yancy’s hand dangles from a broken wrist and he screams deeply in pain. Tears streamed from his face as you remain frozen. You did this. You made one of the kindest people you’ve met be harmed just because you couldn’t shut up.

You move slowly off of the wall and crouch at Yancy’s level. He’s just staring down at his limp wrist. You can’t blame him. “I’m so sorry, Yancy. Is there anything at all I can do?” He looks up slowly with empty, emotionless eyes. 

“There’s nothing ya can do for me. See?” His hand lifts back up slowly and he bites his lip as you see the joint reforming. Pain is visible on every inch of his face. “He’s done this...before. It’s nothing...AAAH!” He screams louder than before. His hand grips your hand like a vise.

You hold him that night as every millimeter in his wrist reforms and in some cases, rebreaks. Neither of you sleep even a wink.

“It’s my fault, Yancy.”

He whispers in your ear, “You have done nothing wrong.”

It feels like you did, nevertheless.

After that, you don’t talk about your past. You just talk about your endless, endless work. That’s all it is. You scrub the floors, cook dinners and even wash clothes by hand for all of Yancy’s 150 closest friends. Laughing and singing as your hands ache and bleed from the 18 hours of work a day with limited meals. Yancy remarks that it was all leisure before you came here and you wholeheartedly believe it. Marcus means what he says about “hard work”.

“It’s been 7 days and I’ve already got blisters. 2 more months, and my hands will be red and swollen forever.”

“Youse ain’t that bad. Mine are on the tips.” Yancy slides on some gloves as he grabs his book from the shelf and lays on the bed.You lay down on his chest like normal and fall asleep immediately.

…

…

**_“Wake up.”_ **

**_“Wake up, Y/N.”_ **

**_“WAKE UP!”_ **

Your eyes blink open. You wipe them clear of crusties and look over through the bars, taking care to not wake Yancy. 

“Dark?” You whisper. 

**_“Who else? I’ve been waiting such a long time for this moment, Y/N.”_ ** His hair is messy, falling into a side part haphazardly. He wears a black shirt paired with a white jacket and pants. He is so attractive, you could almost cry. His eyes are filled with a sense of achievement. And in his hands, he holds his own bloody heart.

Your eyes widen. “Why isn’t it in yet?”

He smirks. **_“I need help from a mortal to put it back in. Would you oblige me? Try not to wake Antonius.”_ ** His fingers beckon you over. You slowly stand up as your heart pounds.

**_“I don’t have all day for this.”_ ** You’re teleported against the bars and he smiles, looking you up and down.  **_“Poor thing. Punishment doesn’t suit you.”_ ** He holds your hand and sees how you gasp in pain as a slight horrified expression crosses his gray face. He notices your stare and meets it with a smile and a kiss to your hand.  **_“All this trouble for just a girl.”_ **

You look back at him angrily. “Isn’t there something I’m supposed to do instead of this?” 

**_“Oh, yes. My precious heart.”_ ** He pulls out his heart and places it in your hands. It feels like a pulsating piece of meat and you nearly drop it. Yancy’s still asleep as Dark unbuttons his shirt and places your hand against his chest. You walk through the translucent bars before Dark slams them down to reality.

**_“Now, let me in.”_ ** You relax and watch in wonder. Your hand and his heart disappear into his chest. You just begin to let go as a hand closes around yours and pulls his heart out. You look at Dark but notice he’s looking at something else.

Marcus. Oh God. He is covered in blood and smiles at you crazily as you try to pull the heart back.  _ “You can’t do anything against me. Not even make a plan. I let you succeed halfway, but...it’s time for a younger model.”  _

**_“Brother, you’re forgetting something.”_ ** Dark’s hands close down on yours and help you as his mocking clones surround Marcus. They all smirk and speak at the same time.  **_“You’ll never get her or my heart ever again. The only thing you’ll be getting is a pike to stick your traitorous head on.”_ ** He waves his arms to summon his many clones.

Clones whisper in Marcus’s ear, as illusions of dangerous places and animals appear around Dark. You simply close your eyes and focus on pulling. Anything else would make you lose your grip. And if you lose…

Marcus keeps laughing at this desperation. It’s gotten to the point where you don’t know how Yancy’s still asleep. You are screaming as Marcus literally tries to rip the skin off of your hands and yet he doesn’t move. A quick glance shows you why. He is frozen in time, reaching out for you and Dark and one of Marcus’s hands has let go in order to point at him.

You close your eyes again as an illusion of a T-rex heads straight for you and you refuse to run. Dark is helping you with strength but his clones are making it impossible for him to automatically make you win. On the bright side, Marcus is having the same issue with his powers. Normally, he’d rip your arms off. Now it’s an all out tug and war.

This goes on for nearly five minutes of pure pain. Part of you just wants to let go but you know Marcus. Finally, you feel multiple hands around your arms and feel strength pouring into you. Dark’s clones press into you as the real Dark holds you from behind. Even with your closed eyes, you can still see the flashes of light produced as they help you.

Marcus doesn’t focus on illusions anymore as well. His power surges and he pulls as hard as he can with both hands. You hear Yancy’s screams as blood from your hands drips down on the floor. Yet you keep pulling and pulling until you hear a rip.

One half of Dark’s heart lays in your hand. You look at it in shock. It oozes out blood all over your white shirt. Marcus also remains frozen, contemplating his first incomplete victory.

“D...Damien?” Yancy walks up towards Dark. His eyes water as he reaches out towards the demon.

One arm lets go of you and touches Yancy’s hand.  **_“Antonius...I haven’t seen you since_ ** _ he _ **_made you kill our parents. I’ve missed you.”_ **

“I miss youse all the time.” Dark moves off of you to hug his brother. You can’t help but notice the tears streaming down both of their faces. They hold each other for about 20 seconds before moving off of each other. Dark breaks into a truly genuine smile for the first time you’ve ever seen. 

This all ends when Marcus moves from his trance. You’re still staring at the pulsating heart and the brothers as Marcus charges at you to complete the heart again. Luckily, Yancy grabs you to safety and places your hand against Dark’s chest once more.

“Protect her. She’s different than the all others.”

**_“I know. I wish you could travel with us.”_ **

“I’m used to his torture, brother. And I can’t think of a more worthy cause.”

As Dark’s half heart sinks in all the way and you let go, you focus on the conversation. “Wait, what? Yancy!”

Just as Marcus grabs for you both, the man with half a heart teleports you to what looks like a field. You can’t get the whole picture because you faint on arrival.

_ “I’ll fucking find you and make you wear your spine as a necklace.” _

**_“There’s no way we’ll survive enough to kill_ ** _ him  _ **_if you incapacitate yourself at every opportunity.”_ **

“I misses ya. Try and contact Jack for me. If my brother can be saved, he can as well.”

These messages pound in your brain until you wake up confused and alone, 24 hours later.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...
> 
> I'm sorry. A lot's been happening in my personal life and this fin kinda went on the back burner. But thanks to some motivation and coffee, you're getting an extra long chapter!
> 
> I love Yancy so much, it hurts. He's very hard to write however because of his very confusing dialect. But once I've watched all his videos in repeat for an hour, it gets sort of better.
> 
> I also love how I make a promise to myself that Dark won't appear in this chapter except for at the end, but I add in a whole ass dream scene. I can't help it, it's like he possesses me ;) (Cue the 2011 wattpad thing where you interview your own character in the notes lol) I can't wait to start writing him as a little bit kinder so it's believable when you start falling for him and not just entranced by his attractiveness,
> 
> Marcus is exceedingly creepy and he even hurts our favorite boy :( But at least his interest is gone! Which means he's definitely aiming to straight up kill you lol. I've been watching the show The Boys and Homelander is definitely exactly like him minus the laser eye beams plus mind control.
> 
> Wonder what's between Yancy and Anti? Also where the hell are you? Or when? All these will be answered when my college apps are done! So november. See ya next time and thank you so much!
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Well this is my first story on here so I hope it wasn't too bad. I had this idea for a while in my head and finally got the courage to put it down in writing. Please give kudos and comment if you liked it, which I hope you did. See you next time!


End file.
